夫 - HUSBANDS Should Have Topknots

Readings & Meanings:

おっと

フ

フウ

husband, man

Common Usage:

夫

夫婦

工夫

大丈夫

Examples:

夫とは３０年の仲だ。

夫婦そろって映画を見に行く。

バットの持ち方をいろいろ工夫してみた。

一人でも大丈夫だから心配しないで。

Translations:

My husband and I have been together 30 years.

Spouses go to see movies as couples.

There seem to be many ways to hold a bat.

I'll be fine by myself, don't worry.

Radical:

大 is the base of this character, which shows a large, standing figure. The line on top is a topknot.

Bonuses:

それ, a long long time ago, used to be written as 夫.

Also, you can write おっと in kanji two ways. One way is 夫. Another is 良人. Both are pronounced おっと and mean the same thing.

Further complicating things, 妻 now means wife, but, long long ago,　妻 used to mean just "spouse" and could have been used for either husband or wife.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/o.htm