只
ただ · tada · JLPT N3 · na-adj
only
🎁 Sounds like ta-da! The magician's reveal: only one trick, and it's free
只 is 口 mouth over 八, two strokes like breath leaving it. It began as a small particle meaning just, merely. The reading ただ covers both only and free of charge: nothing more, nothing owed.
只 — mouth 口 + bird tail 八
Originally a pictograph showing a bird (口 as body) with its tail feathers (八) spread, meaning a single bird. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the grammatical particle and adverb meaning 'only' or 'just,' which became its dominant modern use.