Meaning & readings
give, bestow, perform, alms
On’yomi シ、セ
Kun’yomi ほどこ.す
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of action with distribution. The left component suggests a person or movement, while the right side contributes both sound and meaning related to spreading or extending outward. The overall shape came to represent the act of giving or bestowing something broadly — distributing alms or performing an action for others. The character's structure reflects how giving involves both the giver's effort and the spreading of benefits outward.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (施).
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 70
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #323 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+065BD