Kanji

Kanji (漢字) is one of the three forms of Japanese writing. A kanji is an ideogram: that is, a type of simple picture. These are made to show a word's meaning. It is a symbol of an idea such as an object, thing or quality.

Kanji ideograms (or “characters”) were taken from Chinese characters,^[1] and many changed over time. The word “kanji” means “Han characters” (i.e. “Chinese characters”).^[2]

1. ↑ Taylor, Insup; Taylor, Maurice Martin (1995). Writing and literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 305. ISBN 90-272-1794-7.
2. ↑ Suski, P.M. (2011). The Phonetics of Japanese Language: With Reference to Japanese Script. p. 1. ISBN 9780203841808.