Meaning & readings
robust, manhood, prosperity
On’yomi ソウ
Kun’yomi さかん
Nanori つよし
Origin
The character combines two parts to convey strength and vigor. On the left, the "person" component (⺦) serves as a sound hint suggesting how the character is pronounced. On the right, the "warrior" or "samurai" component (士) carries the core meaning—a warrior represents the peak of physical strength and masculine vigor. Together, these parts create a character meaning robust health, manhood, and prosperity, drawing on the cultural association between warriors and power.
Components
- ⺦
- 士
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
- 33
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1657 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+058EE