菓 means “sweets, confectionery”

か · ka

Also: candy, cakes, fruit

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カ

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Grass (艹) over fruit (果): sweets were once fruit and nuts, and 水菓子 still means fruit on a formal Japanese menu. お菓子 is any snack or candy, and 和菓子 are the delicate sweets served with green tea.

Used in お菓子 (okashi, sweets/snacks), 和菓子 (wagashi, Japanese sweets), and 菓子パン (kashipan, sweet bun)

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

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