字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

presents, send, give to, award to, confer on, presenting something

On’yomi ゾウ、ソウ
Kun’yomi おく.る

Origin

This character combines the idea of valuable goods with a sound hint. The left component, 貝, originally depicted a cowrie shell and came to represent precious things or money in Chinese characters. The right component, 曽, serves as a pronunciation guide telling you roughly how to say the character, rather than adding meaning itself. Together, the combination of "precious items" and this sound hint created a character meaning to give or present something valuable as a gift.

贈 18 strokes

Components

  • 貝 radical left
  • 曽 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

  • 贈る おくる to give (as a gift); to present
  • 贈呈 ぞうてい presentation (of a gift, prize, etc.)
  • 贈答 ぞうとう exchange of presents
  • 贈与 ぞうよ donation; presentation
  • 贈賄 ぞうわい giving a bribe; bribery
  • 寄贈 きぞう donation; presentation
  • 贈り主 おくりぬし sender (of a present)
  • 贈収賄 ぞうしゅうわい bribery; corruption

Related kanji

Same sound component 曽
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
18
Kangxi radical
154
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1001 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08D08