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I'm taking a look by recommendation to the "remembering the kanji" book. In it appears the kanji below. I look for it in a list of joyo kanji and it doesnt appear, at least not when I look for it by its meaning. The meaning the book says it has is "siesta". Siesta is a spanish word, and I dont even understand what it is doing in an english book unless it means something different in another language or japanese? Anyway, I'd like to know if this is a joyo kanji, and if this is the meaning it has "siesta" and if that meaning it's the same meaning than the word "siesta" in spanish . I just wrote a very similar question recently, of another kanji which looks different, which was also referenced as meaning another spanish word "fiesta". This is a different question even if the word almost looks the same with the difference of only one letter! (siesta in spanish means nap and fiesta in spanish means party)

By the way, I can't type the kanji in my computer, so if anyone can add it to the title it's appreciated. Same thing happened with other couple of topics I've opened, and I realize since the topic title isnt descriptive, the topic isnt helpful for others

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    Heisig splits the kanji in components (he calls them "primitives" if I remember correctly) fitting his mnemonic stories. So the starred characters may or may not be actual kanji on their own... In this case it is the Chinese hanzi 曷, in a (Japanese) 'simplificated' form. Seeley/Henshall give this component the historical meaning "stop and question" or "question loudly"/"request".
    – Kess Vargavind
    Mar 18, 2017 at 18:44
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    More on it here: blog.goo.ne.jp/ishiseiji/e/4f33098dc6e57742a6a43ca622f970d3
    – virmaior
    Mar 18, 2017 at 18:56
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    I've noticed you've been asking a lot of "is this a Joyo kanji?" questions recently. Jisho.org has a kanji search tool where you can select parts and find the kanji you need (see the "radicals" tab).
    – Blavius
    Mar 18, 2017 at 19:27

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(1) While siesta is Spanish word, it is also an English word. The English word means "afternoon nap". I don't know if that's the meaning of the Spanish word from which the English word comes.

(2) This character does not mean siesta.

The definitions at jisho.org (JDICT) are: "why, how, when" depending on the reading.

The definitions given at 漢字辞典 are similarly question words depending on the readings.

(3) The character is not in the 常用漢字 nor in the name list (per here).

(4) Moreover, the version you are searching for is considered an　異体字 (http://glyphwiki.org/wiki/u66f7-ue0101) -- meaning an alternative way to write the same character.

I don't have any experience with Heisig, but I will note here that the the story Heisig uses that I'm finding online differs from from the components of the character. Specifically, the top part here is not the sun (日), it's 曰く (which means to speak). The bottom part is a bound person, so it's a bound person answering questions if you want a correct image.

@snailplane gave me a helpful explanation that he's put this in because it is a building block in several characters that are used in Japanese even if it itself is not.

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  • yes, in spanish it means afternoon nap. It isnt a japanese question, but since it was introduced by the topic I take my chance to ask you, is "fiesta" also an english word of spanish origin
    – Pablo
    Mar 18, 2017 at 20:22
  • As a native speaker of North American English, I would define "fiesta" as a big party. My wife suggests "hispanic festival" (the dictionary agrees with her: google.com/…*&dobs=fiesta). Siesta is much more integrated into English I think.
    – virmaior
    Mar 18, 2017 at 20:27
  • Heisig isn't interested in what the parts of the character actually signify. He just wants people to be able to remember how to write the characters using mnemonic devices, not to know their etymologies. 曰 looks like 日 in this character, so he calls it that in his mnemonics. Although this character is (more or less) Chinese-only, it is part of several characters used in Japanese (from most common to least common 「掲」「葛」「喝」「渇」「褐」), and with Heisig's method, students have to memorize the pieces that make up a character whether they're used by themselves in Japanese or not.
    – user1478
    Mar 18, 2017 at 20:45
  • Interesting approach. I've never tried it.
    – virmaior
    Mar 18, 2017 at 23:49

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