Meaning & readings
government ministry, conserve, omit
On’yomi セイ、ショウ
Kun’yomi かえり.みる、はぶ.く
Nanori さとし、み
Origin
This character combines "little" (少) with "eye" (目) to suggest the idea of looking carefully at small details. When you examine something closely and thoroughly, you naturally notice what's unnecessary or wasteful, which led to the meanings "conserve" and "omit." Over time, the character also came to represent a government ministry—a place where careful oversight and management happen. The "eye" component serves as a classifier suggesting observation or examination, while "little" indicates the focused, detailed nature of that looking.
Common words
- 帰省 きせい homecoming; returning home
- 三省 さんせい frequent reflection; frequent meditation
- 自省 じせい self-examination; reflection
- 省く はぶく to omit; to leave out
- 省庁 しょうちょう ministries and government offices; the authorities
- 省略 しょうりゃく omission; leaving out
- 省令 しょうれい ministerial ordinance
- 同省 どうしょう the said ministry; the same ministry
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 109
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #548 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07701