音読み: ガ
訓読み: みやび
画数: 13
部首: 隹（ふるとり）
Meaning
Elegant / Graceful / Refined / Courtly
- 優雅 — elegant; graceful
- 風雅 — tasteful elegance; refined taste
- 雅楽 — court music (gagaku)
- 雅号 — art name; pen name
雅 combines the sound element 牙 (giving the “ga” sound) with the bird radical 隹. Over time it came to mean what is refined and courtly — the opposite of something rough or vulgar.
Remember 雅 as “elegant / refined,” by contrasting it with 俗 — “vulgar / common.” 雅 is grace; 俗 is plain. The contrast makes the meaning stick.
Forms
優雅 — elegant; graceful