Meaning & readings
group, association
On’yomi ダン、トン
Kun’yomi かたまり、まる.い
Origin
This character shows a square or enclosure (囗) that contains the component 寸, which provides a sound hint for the pronunciation. The enclosure shape originally represented something bounded or contained together, which came to mean a group of things or people organized as one unit. The 寸 inside doesn't contribute to the meaning directly but signals how the character should be pronounced. Over time, the idea of things enclosed and unified together naturally extended to mean an association or organized group.
Components
- 囗
- 寸
- 囗
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 31
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #213 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+056E3