Meaning & readings
jewel, ball
On’yomi ギョク
Kun’yomi たま、たま-、-だま
Nanori おう、だん
Origin
This character combines the shape of a royal crown or ornament (王, the square with a line through it) with a dot or jewel mark (丶) placed above it. The dot likely represents a precious stone or bead being highlighted or decorated. Together, these elements suggest something valuable and ornamental, which naturally led to meanings like jewel or precious ball. The character pictures the idea of royal treasure through its visual components.
Components
- 王
- 丶
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 96
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #737 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07389