字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

cottage, inn, hut, house, mansion

On’yomi シャ、セキ
Kun’yomi やど.る
Nanori さ、とり

Origin

This character appears to combine a sound hint with a meaning component. The bottom part, 吉, originally meant "auspicious" or "good," which relates to a dwelling place being favorable or welcoming. The top part, 人 (person), acts as a sound hint rather than contributing to the meaning — it guides pronunciation. Over time, the character evolved to primarily mean "house" or "inn," with the sense of a place where people stay, dropping the auspicious aspect. The combination of these elements created a character for residential structures.

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

舎 8 strokes

Components

  • 人 sound hint top
  • 吉 meaning part bottom

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

Common words

  • 牛舎 ぎゅうしゃ cow shed; cattle barn
  • 校舎 こうしゃ school building; schoolhouse
  • 宿舎 しゅくしゃ lodging (house); accommodation
  • 庁舎 ちょうしゃ government office building
  • 田舎 いなか rural area; countryside
  • 兵舎 へいしゃ barracks
  • 公舎 こうしゃ official residence
  • 寄宿舎 きしゅくしゃ boarding house; residence hall

Related kanji

Same sound component 人
Same radical
Shares components

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
9
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1170 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+0820E