can; may; able to


Used as component in : Made up of [ kǒu mouth radical 30]; á ; ; ; ;
Made with 5 strokes.
Possibly a much simplified version of a man riding a horse and hence an 'ability' todo something
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Related characters


Also uses kǒu component: (supposition or suggestion) chàng (to sing) chāo (to exceed) chī (to eat) chuán (boat) fēi (coffee) (rich) (good fortune) gào (to tell) (each) gōng (palace) gǒu (dog) (ancient) hāi (sound of sighing) hào (name) (together) (to close) (drink) hēng (prosperous) hòu (behind) huí (to circle) huò (maybe) (lucky) jiào (called) jīng (capital) jiù (fault) (sentence) (office) jūn (monarch) (coffee) lìng (other) (?) mìng (life) míng (name) míng (to call (birds)) ne (and you?) (hops) pǐn (article) (as) shàng (still) shì (matter) shǐ (history) suī (although) tái (typhoon) táng (Tang) tīng (to listen) tóng (same) wèn (ask) (to be fond of) xiōng (elder brother) yǎo (to bite) yòu (right) (language) yuán (person) yuē (to speak) zhān (to observe) zhī (one) zhī (to know) zhōu (circuit) (foot)

Different tone

(of plants) (to be able to) (customer) (carve)

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Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 可
Stroke order for character 可, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license

Proverbs

臭不可当 chòu bù kě dāng To give off an unbearable stink
凡人不可貌相, 海水不可斗量 fán rén bù kě mào xiàng, hǎi shuǐ bù kě dòu liàng Judging by appearance is dangerous
逢奸宁可玉碎,气正不求瓦全 féng jiān nìng kě yù suì, qì zhèng bù qiú wǎ quán It is better to die with honor than surrender
家丑不可外扬 jiā chǒu bù kě wài yáng Keep family problems within the family
门可罗雀 mén kě luó què There are so few visitors that the door could be used to catch birds. Having very few visitors
人不可貌相,海水不可斗量 rén bù kě mào xiàng, hǎi shuǐ bù kě dǒu liáng First appearances can be deceptive