Meaning & readings

grandchild, descendants

On’yomi ソン
Kun’yomi まご
Nanori ひ

Origin

The character 孫 combines two components to express the concept of a grandchild. The left side, 子, means child and is used as a classifier for people and descendants. The right side, 系, refers to a line or lineage. Together, they create the idea of a child within a family line—specifically one generation removed from the direct parent-child relationship, making it the word for grandchild. The visual structure thus shows how a grandchild represents both a child and a continuation of the family's generations.

孫 10 strokes

Components

  • 子 radical left
  • 系 meaning part right

Common words

  • 子孫 しそん descendant; progeny
  • 孫娘 まごむすめ granddaughter

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
39
Formation type
Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1388 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05B6B