Meaning & readings
song, sing
Origin
This character combines the element for "breath" or "voice" on the left with a phonetic component on the right that suggests its pronunciation. The left side reflects the essential nature of singing—producing sound and melody through the voice. Over time, the character's form simplified from a more literal picture into the abstract strokes we see today, but it retained its connection to the act of making musical sounds with the human voice. The right component helps indicate how the character should be read aloud.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (歌).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 14
- Kangxi radical
- 76
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #519 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+06B4C