Kanji 重

音読おんよみ: ジュウ・チョウ

訓読くんよみ: おもい・かさなる

画数かくすう: 9

部首ぶしゅ: さと（里）

Meaning

Heavy / Pile / Repeat / Important

  • Basic forms
  • 重なる — to be piled up / base form
  • 重なります — (it) piles up / masu form
  • 重なった — piled up / ta form
  • 重なって — pile up (and...); please pile up (contextual) / te-form
  • 重ならない — don’t pile up / negative form
  • 重なれば — if (it) piles up / conditional
重なる (かさなる) is an Intransitive Godan verb. It describes things piling up on their own or overlapping (e.g., events overlapping, papers piling up).
  • Basic forms
  • 重ねる — to pile up (something) / base form
  • 重ねます — (I) pile up / masu form
  • 重ねた — piled up / ta form
  • 重ねて — pile up (and...); please pile up / te-form
  • 重ねない — don’t pile up / negative form
  • 重ねれば — if (I) pile up / conditional
重ねる (かさねる) is a Transitive Ichidan verb. It describes the action of piling things up or repeating an action (e.g., stacking boxes, repeating mistakes).
  • 体重たいじゅう — body weight
  • 貴重きちょう — valuable
  • 尊重そんちょう — respect
  • 重心じゅうしん — center of gravity
  • 重量じゅうりょう — weight, mass
  • 重病じゅうびょう — serious illness
More examples - tap to expand
  • 重視じゅうし — emphasis, importance
  • 荷重かじゅう — load, weight burden
  • 厳重げんじゅう — strict, rigorous
  • 比重ひじゅう — specific gravity, relative importance
Compound Verbs - tap to expand
  • 積つみ重かさねる — to pile up; to accumulate
  • 重かさね合あわせる — to overlap; to superimpose
  • 折おり重かさなる — to lie layered; to overlap naturally
  • たび重かさなる — to occur repeatedly (formal)

This character combines the radical for “village” (里) with symbolic elements of burden and repetition. Originally depicted as someone carrying a heavy load. It also expresses layers or multiplication in both literal and figurative senses.

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