字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

specialty, exclusive, mainly, solely

On’yomi セン
Kun’yomi もっぱ.ら

Origin

The character 専 combines a sound hint at the top with a meaningful classifier at the bottom. The top component, which looks like a roof or cover over 由, provides a rough guide to how the character is pronounced (seN). The bottom part, 寸, originally meant a small unit of measurement or something limited in scope, which connects to the idea of something narrow or exclusive. Together, the shape suggests something confined or restricted—which grew into the meanings of specialty, exclusivity, and doing something solely or mainly.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

専 9 strokes

Components

  • 2+由 sound hint top
  • 寸 radical bottom

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

Common words

  • 住専 じゅうせん housing-loan corporation
  • 専ら もっぱら wholly; solely
  • 専横 せんおう arbitrariness; despotism
  • 専業 せんぎょう special occupation; principal occupation
  • 専攻 せんこう major subject; special study
  • 専修 せんしゅう specialization; specialisation
  • 専制 せんせい despotism; autocracy
  • 専属 せんぞく exclusive; attached to

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
41
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#506 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05C02