Meaning & readings

general, whole, all, full, total

On’yomi ソウ
Kun’yomi す.べて、すべ.て、ふさ
Nanori うさ、ずさ

Origin

This character combines the thread radical on the left with a phonetic component 忩 on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The thread radical suggests something woven or bound together, which connects to the idea of gathering many strands into one unified whole. The meaning "total" or "all" likely developed from this image of separate threads combined into a single fabric or bundle. Over time, the character came to represent the broader concept of something complete or comprehensive in scope.

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

14 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • 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

  • 総意 そうい consensus; collective will
  • 総会 そうかい general meeting
  • 総額 そうがく total amount (of money); total sum
  • 総括 そうかつ summarization; summary
  • 総監 そうかん inspector general; commissioner
  • 総計 そうけい total; sum total
  • 総裁 そうさい president (of an organization); director general
  • 総帥 そうすい commander-in-chief; leader

Reference

Strokes
14
Kangxi radical
120
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#129 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+07DCF