字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

spinning

On’yomi ボウ
Kun’yomi つむ.ぐ

Origin

The left component 糸 is a radical meaning thread or silk, which directly relates to the meaning of spinning thread. The right component 方 serves as a sound hint, suggesting roughly how the character should be pronounced rather than contributing to its meaning. By combining the visual indicator of thread with the phonetic hint, the character 紡 came to represent the act of spinning fiber into thread.

紡 10 strokes

Components

  • 糸 radical left
  • 方 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

  • 混紡 こんぼう mixed yarn; mixed spinning
  • 紡ぐ つむぐ to spin; to make yarn
  • 紡織 ぼうしょく spinning and weaving
  • 紡績 ぼうせき spinning (textiles)

Related kanji

Same sound component 方
Same radical

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
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1876 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+07D21