字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

emperor

On’yomi コウ、オウ
Nanori おうじ、おお、み

Origin

The character 皇 combines two parts to represent an emperor. The bottom component 王 (king) serves as a sound hint, roughly indicating how the character is pronounced. The top component 白 (white or bright) adds meaning, suggesting the idea of brightness or clarity—qualities associated with imperial authority and divine radiance. Together, these parts created a character specifically for the highest ruler, distinguishing the emperor from ordinary kings.

皇 9 strokes

Components

  • 白 radical top
  • 王 sound hint bottom

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 皇位 こうい imperial throne
  • 皇居 こうきょ Imperial Palace (of Japan); imperial residence
  • 皇后 こうごう empress (consort)
  • 皇室 こうしつ Imperial household
  • 皇女 こうじょ imperial princess
  • 皇族 こうぞく imperial family; royalty
  • 皇帝 こうてい emperor
  • 上皇 じょうこう retired emperor; ex-emperor

Related kanji

Same sound component 王
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
106
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#721 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+07687