字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

made in..., manufacture

On’yomi セイ

Origin

The character 製 combines two parts to represent manufacturing. The bottom component, 衣, originally meant clothing but here serves as a classifier indicating the character relates to making or crafting things. The top component, 制, provides a sound hint telling you roughly how to pronounce the character (セイ). Together, these parts created a character that came to mean the act of manufacturing or producing goods, whether clothing or other products.

製 14 strokes

Components

  • 制 sound hint top
  • 衣 radical bottom

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

Common words

  • 既製 きせい ready-made; off the shelf
  • 作製 さくせい manufacture; production
  • 手製 てせい handmade; homemade
  • 精製 せいせい refining; purification
  • 製鋼 せいこう steel manufacture
  • 製作 せいさく manufacture; production
  • 製図 せいず drafting; drawing
  • 製造 せいぞう manufacture; production

Related kanji

Same sound component 制
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
14
Kangxi radical
145
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#488 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+088FD