Meaning & readings
stamp, seal, mark, imprint, symbol, emblem, trademark, evidence, souvenir, India
On’yomi イン
Kun’yomi しるし、-じるし、しる.す
Origin
This character appears to be a simplified picture of a seal or stamp. The shape shows a square frame (representing the solid block of a seal) with a mark or dot in the center (representing the impression it makes). In ancient China and Japan, seals were important tools for marking documents and creating official stamps, so the visual form of the character naturally came to mean stamp, seal, mark, or imprint. Over time, the meaning expanded to include any kind of symbol or emblem that serves as a mark of authenticity or identification.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (印).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 26
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #682 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05370