Meaning & readings
scheme, plan, policy, step, means
On’yomi サク
Origin
The character 策 combines bamboo at the top with a sound hint at the bottom. Bamboo was used in ancient China to make thin strips for writing, and these strips were used to record plans, policies, and administrative decisions. Over time, the character came to mean the plans and strategies themselves rather than just the physical writing strips. The bottom component provides a sound hint for pronunciation but doesn't contribute to the meaning.
Components
- 竹
- 朿
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
- 118
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #209 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07B56