孤 means “solitary, orphaned”

こ · ko

Also: orphan, alone

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

A child (子) beside a melon (瓜) left hanging alone on the vine: picture an orphan. 孤 is alone in the world: 孤児 is an orphan, 孤立 isolation, and 孤独のグルメ is the TV series about a man who always eats alone.

Used in 孤独 (kodoku, loneliness/solitude), 孤立 (koritsu, isolation), and 孤児 (koji, orphan)

More from Apart & Together

• 唯 only
• 遇 meet
• 隔 separate
• 随 follow along
• 添 add
• 疎 sparse
• 媒 medium
• 寡 few
• 附 attach
• 独 alone
• 離 separate
• 従 follow

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

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