顔

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 顔を洗います。▶ —
   I wash my face.
2. 彼の顔を覚えています。▶ —
   I remember his face.

Collocations

Mnemonic

顔 kao — body part plus dense social-signal vocabulary. Idiom cluster: 顔色 (kaoiro, complexion / mood read), 顔を出す (kao wo dasu, drop by an event briefly), 顔が広い (kao ga hiroi, well-connected, "wide face"), 顔を潰す (kao wo tsubusu, cause loss of face), 顔向けできない (kao muke dekinai, can't face them). Mirrors the Chinese 面子 / Korean 體面 (chemyeon) honor system. Japanese society treats 顔 as the condensed organ of reputation, network, and face-saving → one word holds multi-layered body-to-social metaphor. Onyomi がん (gan): 笑顔 (smiling face), 顔面 (visage).

Quick check

1. Idiomatic meaning of 顔が広い?

   • Well-connected, with a wide social network
   • Physically wide face
   • Big mouth
   • Broad vision