字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

paper

On’yomi シ
Kun’yomi かみ

Origin

Paper is made from fibers, so this character combines the radical for thread or silk (糸) on the left, which indicates the material comes from natural fibers twisted together. The component on the right (氏) serves as a sound hint, telling you roughly how to pronounce the character, rather than adding to its meaning. The character's shape thus represents the fibrous nature of paper through its thread component, while the sound element helps anchor its pronunciation in the character system.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

紙 10 strokes

Components

  • 糸 radical left
  • 氏 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 印紙 いんし (revenue) stamp
  • 銀紙 ぎんがみ aluminum foil; aluminium foil
  • 厚紙 あつがみ cardboard; thick paper
  • 紙袋 かみぶくろ paper bag
  • 紙幣 しへい paper money; note
  • 紙面 しめん space on a page (e.g. in a newspaper)
  • 手紙 てがみ letter; note
  • 色紙 しきし square fancy cardboard, used for autographs, poetry, etc.

Related kanji

Same sound component 氏
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
120
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#559 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+07D19