Kanji for body parts

As you may know, kanji characters usually come from shapes of objects.
The kanji characters for body parts are no exception.
Today, I'll explain some origins of kanji characters for body parts.

Kanji origins of face parts

The origins of these characters come from the shape of the body parts.

目 eye

耳 ear

口 mouth

鼻 nose

Before introducing this kanji, I think I need to show another kanji character.
First take a look at the kanji below.

This kanji "自" originally meant "nose" in ancient China, but as time went by, the meaning has changed.
When people talk about themselves, they point at their nose.
So this character came to mean "myself".

To differentiate between "nose" and "myself", they made another kanji that only meant "nose".
The bottom part of the character stands for the sound of nasal breathing.(We don't usually use this character anymore.)


They combined these two characters to make a new kanji that represents "nose".

眉 eyebrow

In ancient China, the priestess put decorations on their eyebrow.
The shape of an eye and the decorated eyebrow became this kanji.

手 hand

足 leg

This kanji is a combination of "口" and "止".
But "口" is not "mouth", but it is the shape of a kneecap.
"止" came from the shape of a foot print.

Kanji practice sheet

I prepared a practice sheet.
If you are interested, please download it.