毛
け · ke · JLPT N4 · noun
hair
🐈 ke sounds like the start of kept: fur is the coat an animal has kept on
The kanji 毛 began as a drawing of a tuft of hair or a feather: a curved stem with short strokes branching off it. The native Japanese reading is ke, a short clipped sound like the ke in kettle or kept.
毛 — pictograph of hair/fur, 4 strokes
毛 is a pictograph showing a tuft of hair or animal fur, with strands fanning out from a base. The original oracle bone form depicted feathers or fur clearly, and the meaning broadened from 'hair/fur' to include 'wool,' 'down,' and figuratively 'tiny' or 'rough.' It also became a common surname.