字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

part of speech, words, poetry

On’yomi シ
Kun’yomi ことば

Origin

The character 詞 combines the radical 言, which means "words" or "speech," on the left side with 司 on the right, which serves as a sound hint suggesting the character's pronunciation. The 言 radical makes clear that this character refers to language-related concepts—specifically words, speech, or poetic expressions. By pairing this meaning-component with a phonetic guide, the character efficiently conveys both what it means (something to do with words) and approximately how it should be pronounced.

詞 12 strokes

Components

  • 言 radical left
  • 司 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 歌詞 かし song lyrics; words of a song
  • 作詞 さくし (writing) song lyrics
  • 助詞 じょし particle; postpositional word in Japanese grammar that functions as an auxiliary to a main word
  • 動詞 どうし verb
  • 品詞 ひんし part of speech
  • 副詞 ふくし adverb
  • 名詞 めいし noun
  • 形容詞 けいようし adjective; i-adjective (in Japanese)

Related kanji

Same sound component 司
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
149
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1636 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08A5E