魔

JŌYŌ KANJI · Secondary school

witch

witch · demon · evil spirit

21 strokesRadical 194U+9B54
01

Readings

Official Jōyō readings in table order

On’yomi 音読み

マ

Kun’yomi 訓読み

None listed in this source.

02

Origin and meaning

Verified against the direct official KanjiPedia naritachi entry.

Earlier sense recorded in the sourcewitch; historical origin verified from KanjiPedia naritachi
Meanings in the learning dataset todaywitch · demon · evil spirit

Read the source entry ↗

03

Written form

No parenthesized form is given in the official Jōyō index for this character.

Dictionary radical鬼おに · ghost / demon
Stroke count21May vary for alternate forms.
UnicodeU+9B54Modern character encoding, not an origin date.

Compare manuscript and printed examples in the HNG historical glyph archive ↗. Where available, its dated samples document written forms; they do not establish the first use of this character in Japan.

04

Examples in the official table

  • 魔法,悪魔,邪魔
05

When did it enter Japanese?

Chinese characters reached Japan through a long process of contact. Early inscribed objects and sixth-century Japanese names are documented; this is context for the writing system, not a first date for 魔.

魔 appears in the current Jōyō kanji table published on 30 November 2010. This records modern standard status, not the date the character was first used in Japan.

A dated first Japanese use for 魔 has not been verified in the sources attached to this entry.

Agency for Cultural Affairs: writing history ↗ · 2010 Jōyō notice ↗

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