Meaning & readings
dice, form, appearance, take, gather, coloring
On’yomi サイ
Kun’yomi と.る、いろどり
Origin
This character combines a hand (the top component, a classifying radical for grasping) with a tree or wood below, picturing the act of plucking or gathering branches and leaves. The visual idea of reaching up to take something from a tree naturally extended to mean "take" or "gather" more broadly. Over time, the character acquired related senses like "form" or "appearance" — perhaps because gathering colorful things creates a display — and "dice," possibly because dice are made from wood or involve selecting outcomes by hand.
Components
- ⺤
- 木
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 165
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- —
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+091C7