Meaning & readings
masses, great numbers, multitude, populace
Origin
This character pictures a crowd of people gathered together. The main component shows multiple human figures arranged in a group, which visually represents the idea of a large number of people or a multitude. Because the character originally depicted people assembled in quantity, it came to mean "masses" or "populace." The accumulated strokes create the sense of many individuals forming a collective whole, which is why it carries meanings related to great numbers and the general public.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (衆).
Common words
- 観衆 かんしゅう spectators; onlookers
- 公衆 こうしゅう the public; general public
- 衆院 しゅういん House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)
- 大衆 たいしゅう general public; the masses
- 聴衆 ちょうしゅう audience; attendance
- 民衆 みんしゅう people; populace
- 群衆 ぐんしゅう group (of people); crowd
- 衆議院 しゅうぎいん House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 143
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #450 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+08846