Meaning & readings
belong, genus, subordinate official, affiliated
On’yomi ゾク、ショク
Kun’yomi さかん、つく、やから
Nanori さっか、つき
Origin
This character combines a meaning component with a sound hint. The left part, the "corpse" radical (尸), here functions as a classifier for things that form a body or group—the underlying idea of belonging together. The right side (禹) acts as a sound hint, telling you roughly how to pronounce the character without contributing to the meaning directly. Over time, this sound-plus-meaning combination came to express the idea of things that are connected or affiliated, as members belong to a single body or organization.
Components
- 尸
- 禹
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 帰属 きぞく belonging; ascription
- 金属 きんぞく metal
- 軍属 ぐんぞく civilian in military employ
- 従属 じゅうぞく subordination; dependency
- 所属 しょぞく belonging to (a group, organization, etc.); affiliation (with)
- 専属 せんぞく exclusive; attached to
- 直属 ちょくぞく direct control; direct supervision
- 配属 はいぞく assignment (of a person to somewhere); attachment (of a person to another unit, organization, etc.)
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 44
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #912 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+05C5E