What are the three boxes? ロ, 口 and 囗


I was scrolling the [Kanji
Unicodes](http://www.rikai.com/library/kanjitables/kanji_codes.unicode.shtml)
and spotted three box-like characters.

I'm well aware that `ロ` is the katakana `ro`, as for which the other two are,
I'm not sure.

Among the three `ロ` (katakana), `口` (kanji), `囗` (kanji), what is which Kanji,
and how do they differ in writing?

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qz4jQ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qz4jQ.png)

( _For people without support for these characters, here is a an image of how
these characters look like_ )




From the same order you wrote: ロ is the katakana `ro`, as you said. The second
one is the kanji for mouth (口) and the last one is the 31th kangxi radical
also known as [enclosure radical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_31).
There are 214 radicals and most of them are very important to understand how
kanjis work. If you search in the link you provided through CTRL + F, when you
insert the mouth kanji, you're going to see the next kanjis are related to
mouth, like 古, which means "old" and it's made of 十 (ten) and 口 (mouth). Ten
means "a lot" in this case, like "many people" and "mouth" means the message
transmitted over the years[¹](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E5%8F%A4). If you do the same thing with the enclosure
radical (囗) you might find some examples of things enclosed, like 囚
(prisoner), which is self-explanatory: [a person
enclosed](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E5%9B%9A). I provided two links above for the kanji
etymology but I also used a kanji etymology book but it's written in another
language, so it's not useful to mention it here. Just for your information,
there are many kanjis that changed a lot over the years, so sometimes you'll
see an element inside a kanji, like the mouth kanji, but it has nothing to do
with mouth, like [西](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E8%A5%BF) (west).

As for the stroke order, I think they're all the same. That's why depending on
the font of your computer/browser, they will look the same.

_Probably because of some technical reasons that I don't know, the links of
the kanjis are not working in the YellowBridge dictionary. You should manually
input those characters in the
**[Word](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php)** tab in the
**Chinese to English input field** , and after that, the **Etymology** tab
will be available._




From the same order you wrote: ロ is the katakana `ro`, as you said. The second
one is the kanji for mouth (口) and the last one is the 31th kangxi radical
also known as [enclosure radical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_31).
There are 214 radicals and most of them are very important to understand how
kanjis work. If you search in the link you provided through CTRL + F, when you
insert the mouth kanji, you're going to see the next kanjis are related to
mouth, like 古, which means "old" and it's made of 十 (ten) and 口 (mouth). Ten
means "a lot" in this case, like "many people" and "mouth" means the message
transmitted over the years[¹](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E5%8F%A4). If you do the same thing with the enclosure
radical (囗) you might find some examples of things enclosed, like 囚
(prisoner), which is self-explanatory: [a person
enclosed](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E5%9B%9A). I provided two links above for the kanji
etymology but I also used a kanji etymology book but it's written in another
language, so it's not useful to mention it here. Just for your information,
there are many kanjis that changed a lot over the years, so sometimes you'll
see an element inside a kanji, like the mouth kanji, but it has nothing to do
with mouth, like [西](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-
etymology.php?zi=%E8%A5%BF) (west).

As for the stroke order, I think they're all the same. That's why depending on
the font of your computer/browser, they will look the same.

_Probably because of some technical reasons that I don't know, the links of
the kanjis are not working in the YellowBridge dictionary. You should manually
input those characters in the
**[Word](https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php)** tab in the
**Chinese to English input field** , and after that, the **Etymology** tab
will be available._

