Why can a single word have more than one Kanji?


For example, うなずく has 3 Kanji as follows.

  * 頷く 
  * 首肯く 
  * 肯く

Why can this single word have 3 Kanji?




The reason for this is related to how Kanji were taken from Chinese. See [this
link](http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/kanji-pronunciation.html) for more
information.

As time passes, which Kanji are used commonly and for which connotations may
change. For example I haven't seen "首肯く" commonly (it doesn't come up in the
conversion list when I hit space bar), but "肯く" is more common.

Also, in some cases there may be subtle, or major, meaning differences between
the various Kanji (攻める＝attack physically、責める=attack psychologically)




The reason for this is related to how Kanji were taken from Chinese. See [this
link](http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/kanji-pronunciation.html) for more
information.

As time passes, which Kanji are used commonly and for which connotations may
change. For example I haven't seen "首肯く" commonly (it doesn't come up in the
conversion list when I hit space bar), but "肯く" is more common.

Also, in some cases there may be subtle, or major, meaning differences between
the various Kanji (攻める＝attack physically、責める=attack psychologically)

