[ Kanji ]

Kanji is one of the systems of Japanese writing, adapted from Chinese characters in the 4th century A.D., originating as pictographs nearly 5000 years ago. There are over 2000 characters in official use.
Kanji are ideographic and convey both meaning and sound; in Japanese they are pronounced in two ways:
(1) the on-yomi or 'phonetic reading'
(2) the kun-yomi or 'explanatory reading'.
Each character has multiple readings (several ON and/or KUN readings). In extreme cases, a character may have over 100 readings.

ai - love

MEANING:

love, affection, favourite

ON:

'ai'

KUN:

'ito(itoh)-shii', 'a', 'ashi', 'e(eh)', 'kana', 'mana', 'megu(meghoo)-mi', 'yoshi'
     
ai - indigo

MEANING:

indigo

KUN:

'ai'

ON:

'ran'
     
ai - grief

MEANING:

pathetic, grief, sorrow, pathos, pity, sympathize

ON:

'ai'

KUN:

'kana-shimi', 'awa-re'