便 means “convenience”

べん · ben

Also: facility, excrement, feces

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

たより

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ベン, ビン

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 4 · 9 strokes

The story

A person (亻) making things easy: convenience standing right beside you. The country that perfected the convenience store calls it コンビニ, but the deeper word is 便利: handy, near at hand.

Used in 便利 (benri, convenient), 郵便 (yuubin, mail), and 不便 (fuben, inconvenient)

More from Everyday Japan

• 服 clothing
• 曜 day of week
• 飯 meal
• 洗 wash
• 同 same
• 円 circle
• 度 degrees
• 午 noon
• 名 name
• 物 thing
• 電 electricity
• 真 true

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

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