The kanji for eye is an eye standing up (目)

The kanji for eye is 目 (me). It began as a drawing of a human eye that was later turned on its end, so today it stands upright, with two short lines inside where the pupil used to be. Put a pair of legs under it and you get 見 (miru), to see.

What the kanji say

目, eye. Draw an almond-shaped eye with a round pupil, then turn it 90 degrees. The outline becomes the tall box, and the pupil becomes the two lines inside. Scholars agree on this one: it’s a picture of an eye.

見, to see. 目 sits on top of 儿, a pair of legs. In the oldest forms it was a whole person whose head was one big eye. A walking eye, and what it does is look.

Why is the eye standing up?

Some early characters were turned on their side like this, probably because of the writing material. Chinese was often written in columns on tall, narrow strips of bamboo, and a wide shape like an eye fits better standing up.

So every time you write 目, you’re drawing an eye that people first drew more than 3,000 years ago, squared off and stood on its end.

How to use it

• 目が痛いです。

  Me ga itai desu.

  My eyes hurt.

• この映画、見た？

  Kono eiga, mita?

  Have you seen this movie?

• ちょっと見せて。

  Chotto misete.

  Let me have a look.

• 二つ目の信号を右に曲がってください。

  Futatsume no shingou o migi ni magatte kudasai.

  Please turn right at the second traffic light.

• 目 makes ordinal numbers. Added after a number, it means first, second, third: 一つ目 (hitotsume), the first one, 二回目 (nikaime), the second time, 三日目 (mikkame), the third day.
• 見る covers see, look and watch: テレビを見る (terebi o miru) is to watch TV. 見せる (miseru) is to show.
• 目がない (me ga nai), “to have no eyes”, means you can’t resist something: 甘いものに目がない (amai mono ni me ga nai), “I can’t say no to sweets”.
• The reading もく (moku) appears in longer words, such as 目的 (mokuteki), a purpose, and 目次 (mokuji), a table of contents.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Draw an eye, then stand it on its end: 目. Give it a pair of legs and let it walk around looking at things: 見.

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Wiktionary: 目
• Wiktionary: 見
• Wikipedia: Oracle bone script

Written by the Chirami team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email support@brightsmilesolutions.org.