Onyomi: キョク · Kunyomi: くま, ま.がる, ま.げる · Meanings: bend, composition, crooked, curve, fault, injustice, lean, melody, music, perverse, pleasure
Kanji for bend, composition, crooked, curve, fault
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曲 originally showed a picture of something bent or twisted. The shape comes from an ancient drawing of a wooden board or structure with multiple bends in it. Because the form was not straight, the character came to represent “bending,” “curving,” or “a shape with twists.” Later, this idea of bending and shaping was applied to music as well — where tones and melodies bend and flow like a curved line. Over time, 曲 took on the meanings of both “curve” and “musical tune,” tying physical shape to emotional movement.
曲 shows the image of something bent or curved — a shape that isn’t straight. From this feeling of bending comes both the idea of “curve” and the musical sense of a flowing “melody.”
Imagine a line bending and twisting like a melody that curves through the air — that curve is 曲, both a physical bend and a musical tune.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 曲 | きょく | composition, piece of music, song, track (on a record) | common JLPT-N1 Noun, Noun, used as a suffix |
| 隈 | くま | corner, nook, recess | Noun |
| 曲 | くせ | long segment of a noh play forming its musical highlight | Noun |
| 禍 | まが | wickedness, evil, calamity, disaster | Noun |
| 曲がる | まがる | to bend, to curve, to warp, to wind, to twist | common JLPT-N1 JLPT-N5 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Intransitive verb |
| 曲げる | まげる | to bend, to crook, to bow, to curve, to curl | common JLPT-N2 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 曲線 | きょくせん | curve | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 曲がり角 | まがりかど | (street) corner, turn (in the road), bend | common Noun |
| 曲目 | きょくもく | name of a piece of music, (musical) number | common Noun |
| 曲がりくねる | まがりくねる | to bend many times, to turn and twist, to zigzag | Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Intransitive verb |