弥 means “more and more, all the more”

や · ya

Also: increasingly

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

や, いや, いよいよ, わたる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ミ, ビ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 8 strokes

The story

A bow (弓) beside 尓: picture a bow drawn wider and wider. 弥 is "more and more", but today it lives in names: 弥生 is the old third month and the Yayoi period, when rice farming spread, and 阿弥陀 is Amida Buddha.

Used in 弥生 (yayoi, third lunar month/Yayoi period), 阿弥陀 (amida, Amida Buddha), and 弥勒 (miroku, Maitreya, the Buddha to come)

More from Formal Words

• 如 like
• 宜 fitting
• 猶 delay
• 又 again
• 甚 extremely
• 但 however
• 且 moreover
• 僅 only
• 及 reach
• 故 cause
• 為 do
• 致 bring about

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