Meaning & readings
charcoal, coal
On’yomi タン
Kun’yomi すみ
Origin
This character combines two visual ideas to represent charcoal. The top part, a mountain shape, suggests the solid, dark material itself. The bottom part represents fire or ash, pointing to how charcoal is made by burning wood and other materials until they turn black and crumbly. Together, the combination pictures something that comes from fire and burning—specifically the dark residue left behind. This is why the character evolved to mean charcoal or coal.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 86
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1307 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+070AD