Onyomi: タイ, ダイ · Kunyomi: -が.わり, -がわ.り, か.える, か.わり, か.わる, かわ.り, かわ.る, しろ, よ · Meanings: age, change, charge, convert, counter for decades of ages, eras, etc., fee, generation, period, rate, replace, substitute
Kanji for age, change, charge, convert, counter for decades of ages eras etc
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The kanji 代 combines the person radical (亻) with a component meaning “substitute” or “change,” symbolizing a person acting in place of another. In ancient times, it represented replacement, generation, or serving on behalf of someone. 代 came to mean substitute, era, or generation, capturing change, representation, and succession.
A person standing in place of another — 代 means substitute, generation, or era.
Imagine someone acting on behalf of another or marking a new era — that’s 代, the kanji for replacement, generation, or era.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 世 | よ | world, society, public | common JLPT-N1 Noun |
| 代 | だい | charge, cost, price | Noun, Noun, used as a suffix |
| 代 | しろ | substitution | JLPT-N1 Noun |
| 代理 | だいり | representation, agency, proxy | common JLPT-N3 Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 代名詞 | だいめいし | pronoun | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 代わり | かわり | substitute, replacement, substituting, replacing | common JLPT-N4 Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 代表 | だいひょう | representation, representative, delegate, delegation | common JLPT-N3 Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |
| 替える | かえる | to replace, to convert, to change | common JLPT-N3 JLPT-N2 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 代金 | だいきん | price, cost, charge, payment, bill, fee | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 替わる | かわる | to succeed, to relieve, to replace | common JLPT-N2 JLPT-N1 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Intransitive verb |