字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

elder sister

On’yomi シ
Kun’yomi あね、はは

Origin

The character 姉 combines the radical for "woman" or "female" on the left with a sound hint on the right. The left component 女 indicates this character refers to a female family member, while the right component 市 provides a rough pronunciation guide—it tells you how the character sounds rather than adding to its meaning. Together, the character specifically denotes an older female sibling within the family hierarchy.

姉 8 strokes

Components

  • 女 radical left
  • 市 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

  • 義姉 ぎし sister-in-law (spouse's older sister or older brother's wife)
  • 姉妹 しまい sisters
  • 姉さん ねえさん older sister; elder sister
  • 従姉妹 いとこ cousin (female)
  • お姉さん おねえさん older sister; elder sister

Related kanji

Same sound component 市
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
38
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1473 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+059C9