publish · engrave

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 刊 has five strokes and the on-reading かん.
• Basic usage: It concerns publishing books, magazines, or reports, as in 刊行(かんこう).

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Publication frequency
  • 週刊(しゅうかん) means published weekly. It focuses on a publication's frequency rather than simply a one-week period.
• Publishing and launching
  • 刊行 broadly means publishing, while 創刊(そうかん) means launching a publication such as a magazine.
  • 創刊号 is the first issue of a publication.