Question

相 あい- inter-, mutual, together, each other, minister of state, councillor, aspect, phase, physiognomy 3 45 9 109 め・めへん・よこめ 会意 Compound Ideographic The prime minister is having inter-course behind that tree! All you can see are his eyes poking out from the righthand-side of the tree.

Accepted Answer

ソウ、ショウ あ, い, おう, さ, さが, すけ 外相(がいしょう): Foreign Minister首相(しゅしょう): Prime Minister; Chancellor (Germany, Austria, etc.); Premier相手(あいて): (1) companion; partner; company (2) other party; addressee (3) opponent (sports, etc.)相談(そうだん): consultation; discussion相互(そうご): mutual; reciprocal相場(そうば): (1) market price (2) speculation (e.g. on stocks) (3) reputation (according to conventional wisdom); estimation; esteem相当(そうとう): (1) befitting; becoming; worthy of; proportionate; in keeping with; suitable (2) considerable; substantial (3) to be worthy of; to be proportionate to (4) to correspond to (in meaning, function, etc.); to be equivalent (5) extremely; considerably相撲(すもう): (1) sumo wrestling (2) sumo wrestler; rikishi真相(しんそう): truth; real situation相変わらず(あいかわらず): as ever; as usual; the same様相(ようそう): aspect相違(そうい): difference; discrepancy; variation相続(そうぞく): succession; inheritance相応(そうおう): suitability; fitness可哀相(かわいそう): poor; pitiable; pathetic; pitiful蔵相(ぞうしょう): Minister of Finance相対(あいたい): confrontation; facing; between ourselves; no third party; tete-a-tete相応しい(ふさわしい): appropriate; adequate; suitable相対(そうたい): relative相(あい): together; mutually; fellow相(そう): (1) appearance; look; countenance (2) a 'seeming' that fortune-tellers relate to one's fortune (3) aspect (4) phase (e.g. solid, liquid and gaseous) 3 木: tree; wood目: eye; class; look; insight; experience; care; favor 目 5 (none) inter- ソウ/ショウ/あ INTER /MUTUAL /ASPECT /PHASE /MINISTER. "Long ago, before there were telephones, people living far from one another would climb trees to eye each other´s aspects and inter-act for their mutual benefit. Those who did this best became government ministers, with the top person (perhaps the one with the longest neck (首, neck (#70)) becoming the prime minister 「首相 (しゅしょう)".

Kanji	相
Onyomi	ソウ、ショウ
Kunyomi	あい-
Nanori	あ, い, おう, さ, さが, すけ
English	inter-, mutual, together, each other, minister of state, councillor, aspect, phase, physiognomy
Examples	外相(がいしょう): Foreign Minister 首相(しゅしょう): Prime Minister; Chancellor (Germany, Austria, etc.); Premier 相手(あいて): (1) companion; partner; company (2) other party; addressee (3) opponent (sports, etc.) 相談(そうだん): consultation; discussion 相互(そうご): mutual; reciprocal 相場(そうば): (1) market price (2) speculation (e.g. on stocks) (3) reputation (according to conventional wisdom); estimation; esteem 相当(そうとう): (1) befitting; becoming; worthy of; proportionate; in keeping with; suitable (2) considerable; substantial (3) to be worthy of; to be proportionate to (4) to correspond to (in meaning, function, etc.); to be equivalent (5) extremely; considerably 相撲(すもう): (1) sumo wrestling (2) sumo wrestler; rikishi 真相(しんそう): truth; real situation 相変わらず(あいかわらず): as ever; as usual; the same 様相(ようそう): aspect 相違(そうい): difference; discrepancy; variation 相続(そうぞく): succession; inheritance 相応(そうおう): suitability; fitness 可哀相(かわいそう): poor; pitiable; pathetic; pitiful 蔵相(ぞうしょう): Minister of Finance 相対(あいたい): confrontation; facing; between ourselves; no third party; tete-a-tete 相応しい(ふさわしい): appropriate; adequate; suitable 相対(そうたい): relative 相(あい): together; mutually; fellow 相(そう): (1) appearance; look; countenance (2) a 'seeming' that fortune-tellers relate to one's fortune (3) aspect (4) phase (e.g. solid, liquid and gaseous)
JLPT Level	3
Jouyou Grade	3
Frequency	45
Components	木: tree; wood 目: eye; class; look; insight; experience; care; favor
Number of Strokes	9
Kanji Radical	目
Radical Number	109
Radical Strokes	5
Radical Reading	め・めへん・よこめ
Traditional Form	(none)
Classification	会意 Compound Ideographic
Keyword	inter-
Koohii Story 1	The prime minister is having inter-course behind that tree! All you can see are his eyes poking out from the righthand-side of the tree.
Koohii Story 2	ソウ/ショウ/あ INTER /MUTUAL /ASPECT /PHASE /MINISTER. "Long ago, before there were telephones, people living far from one another would climb trees to eye each other´s aspects and inter-act for their mutual benefit. Those who did this best became government ministers, with the top person (perhaps the one with the longest neck (首, neck (#70)) becoming the prime minister 「首相 (しゅしょう)".

Minister Prime Party E.G Worthy Suitable Sumo Aspect