紙 (Paper) — 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.

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.

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes: 10
Kangxi radical: 120
Formation type: Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade: Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank: #559 (newspapers)
Former JLPT: level 3
Unicode: U+07D19