Meaning & readings
squat, seat, cushion, gathering, sit
Origin
The character 座 combines a roof or shelter component (广) with 坐, which serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The roof component suggests an indoor or sheltered setting, which relates to the idea of sitting or being seated in a proper place. Over time, the full character came to represent the act of sitting, a seat itself, or a formal gathering of people in one location. The character essentially pictures sitting down in a designated spot under cover, capturing the meaning of taking a seat or occupying a place.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 广
- 坐
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 一座 いちざ the whole company; the party
- 王座 おうざ throne
- 銀座 ぎんざ Ginza (district in Tokyo)
- 口座 こうざ account (e.g. bank)
- 講座 こうざ course (e.g. of lectures)
- 座る すわる to sit (down); to have a seat
- 座席 ざせき seat (esp. in public places or places with assigned seating); seating
- 座禅 ざぜん zazen (seated Zen meditation, usu. in a cross-legged position)
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 53
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #588 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05EA7