Japanese kanji 閲

It means to inspect, review, or read closely. The shared idea is deliberate scrutiny: you examine a text, object, or person rather than merely notice it. The full word tells you what kind of examination is meant.

An early Chinese character dictionary, 說文解字, discusses an older form in small-seal script, a formal style of writing Chinese characters. Its traditional explanation links 門, the gate component, and 兌 to vehicles lined up and counted at a gate, then extends the idea to looking and inspecting. The Japanese verb 閲す, “examine,” appears in the chronicle Nihon Shoki in 720.

Why does 閲 change meaning in compounds?

The neighboring kanji narrows what gets examined. In Japanese, 閲覧 means perusing or browsing, 校閲 means proofreading, and 検閲 means official inspection, often involving censorship. 閲歴 refers to a person’s past experience and preserves the older sense of having passed through time.

So 閲 is more precise than a general word for reading: it marks close attention, while the companion character supplies the task.

Why does 閲 have different forms in Chinese?

The forms follow different writing standards. Japanese writes 閲, Traditional Chinese writes 閱, and Simplified Chinese writes 阅. They are related forms in the same character family.

Their shapes reflect the writing system chosen for the text, not merely font decoration.