字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

stature, height, back, behind, disobey, defy, go back on, rebel

On’yomi ハイ
Kun’yomi せ、せい、そむ.く、そむ.ける

Origin

The character 背 combines a sound hint and a meaning classifier. The component 月 at the bottom is the classifier for body parts — it originally depicts the moon but came to represent flesh or the body itself. The component 北 at the top provides a sound hint, roughly suggesting how the character should be pronounced. Together, these pieces create a character meaning the back or height of the body, since 月 grounds the meaning in the physical form while 北 guides the reader toward the correct pronunciation.

背 9 strokes

Components

  • 北 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

  • 猫背 ねこぜ bent back; hunchback
  • 背く そむく to run counter to; to go against
  • 背景 はいけい background; scenery
  • 背後 はいご back; rear
  • 背広 せびろ business suit
  • 背骨 せぼね spine; backbone
  • 背丈 せたけ stature; height
  • 背信 はいしん betrayal; infidelity

Related kanji

Same sound component 北
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
130
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#696 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+080CC