Meaning & readings
augment, increase, multiply, raise
On’yomi ショク
Kun’yomi ふ.える、ふ.やす
Nanori うえ、え、げ
Origin
This character pairs the bone radical on the left, which suggests something structural or fundamental, with the character meaning "straight" on the right, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation "shoku." The bone component was originally chosen because growth and multiplication are processes that build up the body and bones, making it a fitting visual metaphor for increase. Over time, the combination came to represent the abstract idea of augmentation and growth in general, moving beyond just physical development.
Components
- 歹
- 直
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 78
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1362 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+06B96