Meaning & readings
organize, arranging, tune, tone, meter, key (music)
On’yomi セイ
Kun’yomi ととの.える、ととの.う
Nanori ひとし
Origin
The character 整 combines a top component meaning "command" or "order" with a bottom component 正 that serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation セイ. The meaning "organize" or "arranging" comes from the idea of putting things in order according to command or direction. Over time, this sense of orderliness extended to related meanings like tuning something (arranging it to the right pitch) or establishing a proper meter in music. The character essentially pictures the concept of bringing things into proper, regulated arrangement.
Components
- 敕
- 正
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 16
- Kangxi radical
- 66
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #478 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06574