Meaning & readings
signpost, seal, mark, stamp, imprint, symbol, emblem, trademark, evidence, souvenir, target
On’yomi ヒョウ
Kun’yomi しるべ、しるし
Nanori しべ
Origin
This character combines wood (木) on the left with a sound hint (票) on the right. The wood component makes sense because signposts and markers were traditionally made of wood — a wooden pole or post that serves as a marker or guide. The right component mainly tells you how to pronounce the character, but the wooden post idea carries the core meaning of a physical object that stands out and indicates something, like a seal or stamp that leaves an imprint.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 15
- Kangxi radical
- 75
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #686 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06A19