Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 甘 (gān) depicts a mouth 口 with a short horizontal line inside, representing something sweet placed on the tongue. This pictographic composition originally meant 'sweet' or 'pleasant-tasting.' In ancient Chinese philosophy, it also came to symbolize contentment and satisfaction. Over time, the character evolved from its oracle bone script form - which showed a more pronounced mouth with a distinct mark inside - to the standardized modern form. The character serves as a radical in other Chinese characters related to taste and flavor, such as 甜 (tián, meaning 'sweet') and 某 (mǒu, originally meaning 'sour plum' but now used as 'a certain'). Arrived in Japan: The character 甘 was introduced to Japan during the Yayoi period (approximately 300 BCE - 300 CE) through cultural exchange with China, but became systematically established during the 5th-6th centuries CE when the Japanese court officially adopted Chinese writing systems. It entered Japan as part of the broader transmission of Chinese characters (kanji) along with Buddhism and Confucian texts, and has been used in Japanese with the same meaning of 'sweet' and the pronunciation 'ama-' or 'kan.'