ChiramiIn kanji, think is your head over your heart (思)
The kanji for think, 思 (omou), is two pieces stacked: what looks like 田, a rice field, on top, and 心, a heart, underneath. But the top isn’t a field. It was once 囟, a drawing of the top of the head, so 思 is your head over your heart, a fair description of thinking. It’s the kanji in 思う (omou), to think, and 思い出 (omoide), a memory.
What the kanji say
心 (kokoro, shin) began as a drawing of a heart. In Japanese, as in Chinese, it means both the heart and the mind, and it sits at the bottom of many kanji about thoughts and feelings, such as 感 (kan), feeling, and 意 (i), intention.
囟 is the old top half of 思. It pictures the top of the skull, with the fontanelle, the soft spot on a baby’s head. Over the centuries it was written more and more like 田, and in modern kanji the two look identical.
思 (omou, shi) means to think, and also to feel or believe.
Where it really comes from
An older form of the kanji, 恖, shows the 囟 clearly, sitting on the heart. What it’s doing there depends on who you ask. The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, treats it as a sound part: 思 is 心 for the meaning, with 囟 for the sound. Other dictionaries read it for its meaning too: the top of the head and the heart together, the two places thinking might happen.
Either way, the video is right that the top isn’t a rice field. 囟 had started turning into 田 as early as texts written on silk more than 2,000 years ago, and it never turned back.
How to use it
そう思います。
Sou omoimasu.
I think so.
明日は雨だと思う。
Ashita wa ame da to omou.
I think it'll rain tomorrow.
日本に行きたいと思っています。
Nihon ni ikitai to omotte imasu.
I'm hoping to go to Japan.
子どもの頃をよく思い出します。
Kodomo no koro o yoku omoidashimasu.
I often think back to my childhood.
不思議ですね。
Fushigi desu ne.
That's strange, isn't it?
- 思う or 考える? Both translate as “think”. 思う (omou) is for opinions, feelings and impressions: what you think. 考える (kangaeru) is for working something out: thinking it over. “Let me think about it” is 考えさせてください (kangaesasete kudasai).
- と思います softens an opinion. Adding it, “I think”, makes a statement sound less blunt, and Japanese speakers use it a lot.
- 思い出 (omoide) is a memory, something you look back on, and 思い出す (omoidasu) is to remember or recall.
- A handy way to remember 忘れる (wasureru), to forget: its kanji 忘 is 亡, lost, over 心, the heart.
Words with the same kanji
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 思い出 | omoide | memory, memories |
| 思い出す | omoidasu | to remember, to recall |
| 不思議 | fushigi | strange, mysterious |
| 意思 | ishi | intention, will |
| 思考 | shikou | thinking, thought |
| 片思い | kataomoi | one-sided love |
Remember it
Head over heart. The top of 思 was once the top of a head (囟), not a field (田), and it sits on 心. To think, in kanji, you use both.
The kanji in this lesson
Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.