Meaning & readings

goods, refinement, dignity, article, counter for meal courses

On’yomi ヒン、ホン
Kun’yomi しな

Origin

This character is made of three copies of the box shape that represents a container or item. By stacking three identical squares or boxes together, the character visually suggests a collection of multiple goods or articles. The idea is that one item is just a single thing, but three of them together represents goods in quantity—merchandise or products. Over time, this concept of "goods" expanded to include related meanings like quality, refinement, and dignity, since fine goods were associated with high quality and elegance.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

9 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (品).

  • meaning part

Common words

  • 遺品 いひん things left (to one) by the deceased; inherited item
  • 一品 いっぴん item; article
  • 逸品 いっぴん excellent article; fine item
  • 下品 げひん vulgar; indecent
  • 景品 けいひん gift; premium
  • 作品 さくひん work (e.g. book, film, painting, composition); piece
  • 手品 てじな magic (illusion); conjuring
  • 出品 しゅっぴん exhibiting; showing

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
30
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#225 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+054C1