原

Yuan2
#193 most
frequent character
surname Yuan, (Japanese surname) Hara

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

原 shows water coming from a basin 厂, so it first meant 'source of a river'. From 'source' the meaning grew to 'first'. The river-source sense is now written 源.

Drawn as: spring water from basin

原 as a component in other characters

sound3 characters
愿螈塬
picture1 character
源

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