2

Ball


Radical Combination


Meaning

Ball

Mnemonic

The king has a big drop of liquid in his hand... but then he bounces it! The drop was really a ball.

This kanji looks just like a king bouncing a ball, no? If not, imagine the kanji itself bouncing the drop (the ball) over and over again. Kanji are surprisingly playful like that.


Reading

On'yomi

ぎょく

Kun'yomi

たま

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

When he's done playing with it, the king gives his ball to Tamara (たま), the resident ball girl, for safekeeping.

Try to remember Tamara the ball girl. She'll come up anytime the reading for a kanji is たま, and usually she'll be involved with some kind of ball or round object. That's her job, after all.


Found In Vocabulary