一般

いっぱん · ippan · JLPT N3 · na-adj

general

一般 = one + sort: everything treated as one sort, so general

一 means one and 般 means kind or sort. When everything counts as one kind, you get the general, average case. Sound hook: ippan sounds like one pan, the plain everyday pan everyone uses.

一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'

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