The kanji 粉 generally represents "powder," "flour," or anything in a fine, granular state. It refers to substances that have been ground or reduced to small particles. It can also imply a state of being finely divided or fragmented.

・On-yomi (音読み): フン (fun) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): こな (kona)

⚫︎小麦粉 (komugiko) Translation: Wheat flour ⚫︎粉末 (funmatsu) Translation: Powder; fine powder ⚫︎石鹸粉 (sekkenko) Translation: Soap powder

The kanji 粉 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The left side, 米 (mai), means "rice." The right side, 分 (bun), indicates the sound and also suggests division or separation. Thus, the character combines the idea of rice (or grain) being divided into fine particles. The historical development shows the evolution from pictographic representations of rice grains being processed to the current form.