Meaning & readings

resemblance

On’yomi ショウ
Kun’yomi あやか.る

Origin

This character combines two components to show resemblance or similarity. The bottom part, the moon radical (月), originally represented flesh or the body — the physical form of a person. The top part serves as a sound hint for pronunciation, not a meaning element. Together, the character suggests the idea of physical likeness or taking after someone's appearance, which developed into the broader sense of resemblance.

肖 7 strokes

Components

  • ⺌ sound hint top
  • 月 radical bottom

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 肖像 しょうぞう portrait; likeness
  • 不肖 ふしょう unworthy (of one's father, teacher, etc.)

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
130
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1889 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+08096