Meaning & readings
play music, speak to a ruler, complete
Origin
This character combines the idea of hands (the top component, 𡗗) working together with heaven or the highest level (天, bottom). When hands work in coordination at the highest level — in the presence of a ruler or in service to heaven — the meaning shifted to performing music or formally presenting something to a ruler. The sense of "complete" likely comes from bringing something to its full, perfected form through such coordinated effort. Over time, the character's primary meaning became "play music" or "speak formally to a ruler," as these were the most prestigious forms of coordinated performance in classical East Asian courts.
Components
- 𡗗
- 天
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 37
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1067 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+0594F