硬 means “hard, stiff”

かたい · katai

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

かたい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Stone (石) and 更, as in 更に, "even more": harder still than stone. 硬い is hard and rigid, 硬貨 are coins, and Japanese baseball splits into 硬式, the hard ball of Koshien, and 軟式, played with a rubber one.

Used in 硬い (katai, hard/stiff), 硬貨 (kouka, coin), and 硬式 (koushiki, hardball)

More from Hard & Soft

• 柔 soft
• 軟 soft
• 鋭 sharp
• 鈍 dull
• 清 pure
• 固 harden
• 豊 abundant
• 巨 giant
• 荒 rough

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