Meaning & readings
fee, materials
Origin
This character combines two components related to measuring and dividing things. The left side shows rice (米), a staple grain that was often used as currency or payment in ancient times. The right side is a measure (斗), a traditional unit for calculating quantities of grain and other materials. Together, these parts express the idea of portioning out or calculating amounts—whether rice for a meal, materials for a task, or payment for services. Over time, this evolved to mean both the materials themselves and the fee or cost associated with them.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 68
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #295 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+06599