唐 means “Tang China, China, foreign”

とう · tou

Also: T'ang

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

から

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

トウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

A mouth (口) under a broad roof (广), a hand (⺕) between: 唐 once meant big talk, then named the Tang dynasty, whose capital was the model for Nara and Kyoto. Later it meant anything from abroad: 唐辛子, chili, is literally "Tang mustard".

Used in 唐揚げ (karaage, fried chicken), 唐辛子 (tougarashi, chili pepper), and 遣唐使 (kentoushi, envoys to Tang China)

More from Politics & Diplomacy

• 呉 Wu (ancient China)
• 蛮 barbarian
• 派 faction
• 挙 raise
• 閣 cabinet
• 韓 Korea
• 衆 crowd
• 票 vote
• 渉 negotiate
• 盟 alliance
• 邦 country
• 遣 send

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