Meaning & readings
fortune-telling, divining, forecasting, occupy, hold, have, get, take
On’yomi セン
Kun’yomi し.める、うらな.う
Nanori うら、しむ、じめ
Origin
This character combines two elements to show the idea of divination. The top part, 卜, is an ancient symbol for divining—it originally depicted the cracks that appeared when heat was applied to oracle bones, which people read to predict the future. The bottom part, 口, represents a person's mouth or speech. Together, the character shows someone speaking about what the cracks foretold, capturing the act of fortune-telling itself. Over time, the meaning expanded to include the general sense of "occupying" or "holding," likely because divination was used to determine one's fate or position.
Components
- 卜
- 口
Common words
- 寡占 かせん oligopoly; control of a market
- 占い うらない fortune-telling; divination
- 占う うらなう to tell someone's fortune; to divine (the future)
- 占拠 せんきょ occupation; taking and maintaining exclusive control (of a location)
- 占有 せんゆう possession; occupation
- 占領 せんりょう occupying; having (an area) all to oneself
- 独占 どくせん monopoly; monopolization
- 星占い ほしうらない astrology; horoscope
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 25
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #694 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05360