Meaning & readings
happiness, blessing, fortune
On’yomi コウ
Kun’yomi さいわ.い、さち、しあわ.せ
Nanori こ、さき、さし、さっ、とも、ひろ、みゆき、ゆ、ゆき、よし
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of earth or ground (土) with a component suggesting fortune or chance encounter. The lower part (𢆉) originally depicted a crossroads or intersection—a place where paths meet. The character developed to represent the fortunate meetings and chance blessings that occur when paths cross, built upon the stable ground of human life. Over time, this visual idea of lucky coincidence became associated more broadly with happiness and good fortune.
Components
- 土
- 𢆉
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 51
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #786 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05E78