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    苦 PAINFUL

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    死 DEATH

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    地獄 HELL

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    天国 PARADISE

    1. 41
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    現実 REALITY

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    • 快 Pleasant Levels 01-10
    • 苦 Painful Levels 11-20
    • 死 Death Levels 21-30
    • 地獄 Hell Levels 31-40
    • 天国 Paradise Levels 41-50
    • 現実 Reality Levels 51-60
    • 快 Pleasant Levels 01-10
    • 苦 Painful Levels 11-20
    • 死 Death Levels 21-30
    • 地獄 Hell Levels 31-40
    • 天国 Paradise Levels 41-50
    • 現実 Reality Levels 51-60
    • 快 Pleasant Levels 01-10
    • 苦 Painful Levels 11-20
    • 死 Death Levels 21-30
    • 地獄 Hell Levels 31-40
    • 天国 Paradise Levels 41-50
    • 現実 Reality Levels 51-60
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Come learn 2000+ kanji and 6000+ vocabulary words with WaniKani.

  • 人生
  • 外

3 元 Origin

Alternative Meanings

Ex, Former

Part of Speech

Noun and Prefix

Reading

もと

  • Kyoko(Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi(Tokyo accent, male)

Context Sentences

きのう、元つまにあってきました。

Yesterday, I ran into my ex-wife.

元のきじはけされてしまいました。

The original article was deleted.

元は月の出しんなんです。

I’m originally from the moon.

Meaning Explanation

The kanji and the word are exactly the same. That means they share meanings as well. When it's used as a prefix, it takes on the related meaning of ex- or former.

Reading Explanation

Since this word is made up of a single kanji, it should use the kun'yomi reading. When learning the kanji, you didn't learn that reading, so here's a mnemonic to help you with this word:

You're trying to trace a person back to their origin so you can learn more about them. You finally get there - it's a castle. The problem is that it's surrounded by a huge moat (もと) and you can't get past it because the drawbridge is up. Feel the frustration of this. Think about your goal and how close you are to getting to it if it wasn't for this lousy moat.

Utilized Kanji

  • 元
    • げん
    • Origin
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