Meaning & readings
victory, win, prevail, excel
Origin
This character combines the idea of muscular strength with the concept of a contract or bond. The left side, a component representing flesh or physical force, suggests the body's power. The right side refers to something that certifies or validates. Together, the character pictures the notion of one side's strength proving decisive or being validated in a contest — when your strength wins out, your victory is established and confirmed. Over time, the focus shifted from the physical act to the abstract idea of winning itself, giving the character its modern meaning of victory and prevailing.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 月
- 劵
Common words
- 圧勝 あっしょう overwhelming victory; crushing victory
- 景勝 けいしょう picturesque scenery; place of scenic beauty
- 決勝 けっしょう decision of a contest
- 殊勝 しゅしょう admirable; laudable
- 勝つ かつ to win; to gain victory
- 勝者 しょうしゃ winner; victor
- 勝手 かって one's own convenience; one's way
- 勝訴 しょうそ winning a (legal) case; victory (in a legal case)
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 19
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #185 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+052DD