形 - Frame Your SHAPES

Readings & Meanings:

かたち

かた

ケイ

ギョウ

shape, form, type

Common Usage:

形

三角形

人形

Examples:

形のよいリンゴ。

三角形を書く。

五月人形を飾る。

Translations:

A good-shaped apple.

I draw a triangle.

I am displaying the Boy's Day dolls.

Radical:

Ah, a radical I've always wondered about! See the three hatchmarks on the side of 形? Those are the radical!

彡,　さんづくり, or Sanzukuri, means pattern, typically, and shows a pattern of hatchmarks.

The left-hand phonetic is a version of a pictograph meaning frame. So these two abstract ideas combine to mean a general shape.

References:

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