Meaning & readings
sutra, longitude, pass thru, expire, warp
Origin
This character pairs the thread radical 糸 on the left, which signals the meaning is about textiles or thread-related concepts, with the component 圣 on the right that serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. Threads running lengthwise through a loom are called the warp, which naturally connects to the "warp" meaning. Over time, the concrete image of threads running in one direction extended to mean "longitude" (lines running north-south on a map) and eventually "to pass through" or "flow through." The related sense of "sutra" — Buddhist scriptures that thread together teachings — fits this pattern of something that runs continuously or connects ideas in sequence.
Components
- 糸
- 圣
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 120
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #79 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07D4C