Chinese question character 問

It means “ask” or “question”; compounds add context.

Chinese uses 問 for asking, questioning, investigating, or asking after someone. Japanese uses it in 問う, meaning “to ask,” and 問い, meaning “a question.”

Read the whole word: 問題 means a question or problem in Chinese and Japanese; 問候 is Chinese for greetings or asking after someone’s well-being; Japanese 問い合わせ means an inquiry or request for information.

What is the origin of 問?

Its history developed in Chinese writing, and its earliest forms are disputed.

Traditional Chinese lexicography analyzes 問 as 口 (“mouth,” marking speech) plus 門, which supplies a sound cue. The early Chinese dictionary Shuowen glosses it as asking or inquiring.

Shang oracle-bone forms—characters carved on animal bones or shells—were traditionally identified as 問, but a paleographic study argues they may instead be a complex form of 啓. It disputes identifying the familiar spelling as this word in Western Zhou and Chu Warring States examples; some earlier bronze and Chu-slip forms are related to 聞 or 昏. The study argues for 問 in late Warring States Qin slips. This is a scholarly reconstruction, not a settled first date.

Is 問 Chinese or Japanese?

Both languages use it, but one glyph does not identify which.

Mandarin reads 問 as wèn in Pinyin, with the voice falling in pitch. Japanese readings vary by word: 問い is とい (to-i, roughly “toh-ee”), 問う is とう (tō, a long “oh”), and some compounds use モン (mon).

If you receive only 問, ask for the full word or sentence before settling on a pronunciation or exact translation. Its broad “ask” sense does not reveal the sender’s specific intent.