字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

boy, priest's residence, priest

On’yomi ボウ、ボッ

Origin

The character 坊 combines the radical 土, meaning earth or ground, with 方, which serves as a sound hint for pronunciation rather than contributing to the meaning. The earth radical suggests something built or constructed on the ground, which led to the meaning of a dwelling or residence, particularly a priest's residence or Buddhist temple building. Over time, the character extended to refer to priests themselves and young boys, likely through association with temple communities or living quarters. The 方 component helps indicate roughly how the word is pronounced in Chinese and Japanese.

坊 7 strokes

Components

  • 土 radical left
  • 方 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 寝坊 ねぼう sleeping in late; oversleeping
  • 坊主 ぼうず Buddhist priest; bonze
  • 赤ん坊 あかんぼう baby; infant
  • 朝寝坊 あさねぼう sleeping late in the morning; sleeping in
  • 坊さん ぼうさん Buddhist priest; monk
  • 本因坊 ほんいんぼう Hon'inbō; Honinbo
  • 坊ちゃん ぼっちゃん (another's) son; boy
  • お坊さん おぼうさん Buddhist priest; monk

Related kanji

Same sound component 方
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
32
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1832 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+0574A