紋 means “crest, pattern”

もん · mon

Also: family crest, figures

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

モン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

Thread (糸) woven into a pattern (文): a design you wear. A 家紋 is a family crest, worn on formal kimono, and in the samurai drama 水戸黄門 every fight ends the moment the hero's men hold up the Tokugawa crest.

Used in 家紋 (kamon, family crest), 指紋 (shimon, fingerprint), and 波紋 (hamon, ripple)

More from Crests & Honors

• 碑 monument
• 傑 outstanding
• 褒 praise
• 璽 imperial seal
• 標 mark
• 徴 sign
• 功 merit
• 称 name
• 誉 honor
• 威 dignity
• 旗 flag
• 誇 pride

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

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