字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

copper

On’yomi ドウ
Kun’yomi あかがね

Origin

Copper is a metal, so this character uses the metal radical 金 on the left to signal "this is about metal." The right component 同 acts as a sound hint, suggesting roughly how the character should be pronounced. Together, the character 銅 combines the meaning hint (metal) with a pronunciation guide to create a complete written representation of the word for copper.

銅 14 strokes

Components

  • 金 radical left
  • 同 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

  • 青銅 せいどう bronze
  • 銅貨 どうか copper coin
  • 銅山 どうざん copper mine
  • 銅像 どうぞう bronze statue
  • 銅版画 どうはんが copperplate engraving; etching

Related kanji

Same sound component 同
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
14
Kangxi radical
167
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1505 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+09285