JLPT Level: Unlisted蔓On-yomi: man, banKun-yomi: habiko.ru, tsuruMeaning: vine, tendril, influence, c

JLPT Level: Unlisted

蔓

• On-yomi: man, ban
• Kun-yomi: habiko.ru, tsuru
• Meaning: vine, tendril, influence, connections, good offices, spread, sprawl, thrive, rampant, powerful

You’re very unlikely to see this kanji in a book, as they’d probably write it in katakana. However, this is sometimes used in last names. 

You may recognize the ⺾ radical at the top. This is the “grass” radical and represents “plants.” The other three radicals, 曼, when put together like this, mean “long.” 

Here we see the very original kanji for tsuru. At the top we have grass planted in a row. Beneath those we have a hat, followed by a hand, an eye, and another hand at the bottom. I’m not sure why there’s a “hat” here, but there is a hand above and below the eye to signify someone holding out their hands to gesture how tall or “long” something is.

So, something “long” 曼 plus “grass”  ⺾ = vines. pretty easy! 

Also, as a sidenote,  most kanji with 曼 have an on-yomi of “man.”