Meaning & readings

interment, bury, shelve

On’yomi ソウ
Kun’yomi ほうむ.る
Nanori はふり

Origin

This character combines grass (the top part, showing plants) with a component below that represents a coffin or burial. The visual idea is of plants or earth covering something that has been buried, which naturally connects to the meanings of interment and burial. Over time, the character became more stylized and less obviously picture-like, but the core image—of something hidden beneath plants or soil—carries the sense of laying someone to rest.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

12 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (葬).

  • meaning part

Common words

  • 火葬 かそう cremation
  • 葬る ほうむる to bury; to inter
  • 葬儀 そうぎ funeral; funeral service
  • 葬式 そうしき funeral
  • 葬送 そうそう attending a funeral procession; seeing off the deceased
  • 葬列 そうれつ funeral procession
  • 埋葬 まいそう burial
  • 社葬 しゃそう company funeral

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
140
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#754 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+0846C