丙 means “third (in a series), C”

へい · hei

Also: third class, 3rd, 3rd calendar sign

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ひのえ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ヘイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 5 strokes

The story

A bar (一) over a frame (冂) with 人 inside: the third of the ten heavenly stems. 甲乙丙 run like A, B, C, and 丙午, the fire-horse year, was so feared that births in Japan dropped sharply in 1966.

Used in 甲乙丙 (kouotsuhei, A, B and C/first, second and third), 丙午 (hinoeuma, fire-horse year), and 丙種 (heishu, class C)

More from Old Measures

• 斤 axe
• 箇 item
• 第 number (ordinal prefix)
• 丈 length
• 寸 sun (about 3 cm)
• 坪 tsubo (about 3.3 square meters)
• 厘 rin
• 乙 second
• 斗 dipper
• 尺 shaku
• 升 sho (about 1.8 liters)
• 畝 ridge (in a field)

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

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