Meaning & readings
holy, saint, sage, master, priest
On’yomi セイ、ショウ
Kun’yomi ひじり
Nanori きよ、さと、さとし、せ、たか、ただ、ひろ、まさ、み
Origin
This character combines the idea of "ear" (the left side, from an older form of the character for ear) with "mouth" (the bottom part). Together, these components suggest someone who listens carefully and speaks wisely—the qualities of a sage or holy person. The character literally depicts the act of hearing and speaking with virtue, which is why it came to mean "saint" or "sage." Over time, the visual connection became less obvious as the character's shape changed, but the meaning of wisdom and spiritual authority remained.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (聖).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 13
- Kangxi radical
- 128
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1165 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+08056