寡 means “few, scant”

か · ka

Also: widow, minority

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

Under a roof (宀), the two halves of 頒, share out, stacked in one column: the oldest dictionary reads it as a house that gives so much away that little is left. 寡 is few: a 寡黙 person says little, and a 寡占 market is held by a few firms.

Used in 寡黙 (kamoku, taciturn), 寡占 (kasen, oligopoly), and 多寡 (taka, quantity/more or less)

More from Apart & Together

• 附 attach
• 独 alone
• 離 separate
• 従 follow
• 伴 accompany
• 属 belong
• 併 combine
• 兼 double as
• 孤 solitary
• 唯 only
• 遇 meet
• 隔 separate

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