Kanji 本: book, present, main, origin, true, real, counter for long cylindrical things
Kanji 本: book, present, main, origin, true, real, counter for long cylindrical things. Readings and core meaning.
See vocabulary and examples below.
Kanji at a glance
Core meaning / core image
book, present, main, origin, true, real, counter for long cylindrical things
Kanji structure breakdown
Mnemonic story
A horizontal line is added to the bottom of a tree (木) to point to its roots, representing the origin or foundation. Just as roots are the source of a tree's growth, it also came to mean a book, which contains the foundation of knowledge.