偉 means “admirable, great”

えらい · erai

Also: greatness, remarkable, conceited

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

えらい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

イ

JLPT N3 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Picture a person (亻) beside 韋, feet pacing round a city wall: the guard everyone looks up to. 偉い means admirable, 偉人 is a great figure of history, and えらいね, "well done", is praise for a child who finishes their vegetables.

Used in 偉い (erai, admirable/great), 偉大 (idai, great/mighty), and 偉人 (ijin, great person)

More from How Things Feel

• 情 feelings
• 難 difficult
• 良 good
• 適 suitable
• 静 quiet
• 困 be troubled
• 恐 fear
• 欲 want
• 疲 tired
• 忙 busy
• 偶 chance

Learn 偉 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.