変 - A STRANGE and Tangled Tale

Readings & Meanings:

か（える）

ヘン

か（わる）

change, abnormal, strange

Common Usage:

人が変わる

変人

変質者

大変

Examples:

二年前の彼女とは人が変わったようだ。

江戸の発明家平賀源内は当時は変人扱いされていた。

暗い夜道は変質者に気をつけて、何かあったら警察に通報してください。

その女性は夫の死後、女手一本の子育てに大変な苦労した。

Translations:

She's a different person than the girl (I knew) two years before.

The Edo inventor Hiraga Gennai was treated as a weirdo.

Along a dark road at night, be careful of degenerates, and if anything happens report it to the police.

After her husband's death, that woman has had a hard time raising her children on her own.

Radical:

Suinyou (夊) down below is the radical. This was originally a pictograph of a dragging foot.

A note from KN: 夊 is often assumed to be the same as 夂, but they're different characters. Unfortunately, in combination with other kanji, 夊 often takes the form of 夂, leading to more confusion. Just memorize 変 as dragging a foot.

What's that on top? A simplified 赤, right? WRONG. But you were right about the simplification.

変 was originally 變. 糸 on both sides of 言. This represents a tangled situation. Tangled indeed.

References:

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