弐 means “two (formal)”

に · ni

Also: II, two, second

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ふたつ, そえ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ニ, ジ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 6 strokes

The story

Two (二) fenced in by a stake (弋): the formal two, built so no one can slip in an extra stroke. 弐 turns up in contracts and on the two-thousand-yen note, printed 弐千円 and seldom seen outside Okinawa.

Used in 弐 (ni, two, in formal documents) and 弐千円 (nisen'en, two thousand yen)

More from Old Measures

• 丙 third (in a series)
• 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)

Learn 弐 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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