音読み: カン
訓読み: わ
画数: 17
部首: 玉/王（おうへん）
Meaning
Ring / Circle / Loop / Sphere.
- 環境 — environment
- 循環 — circulation; cycle
- 環状 — annular; ring-shaped
- 環礁 — atoll
- 環視 — looking on from all sides
- 環 — ring; circle (also a counter for rings)
環 is a phono-semantic compound: the radical 玉/王 “jewel” on the left plus a phonetic element that cues the sound カン. Think of stringing jewels into a loop — a polished ring, a circle, a surrounding band. From a physical ring, the meaning extends to loops and wider spheres (as in the “environment” that rings our lives).
Picture 玉 “jewels” threaded into a loop — like a beaded ring. If a wheel (輪) is a ring that rolls, then 環 is the ring that surrounds — a circle, loop, or even the “sphere” around us (環境).
Forms
環境 — environment; surrounding conditions