字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

dose, medicine, drug

On’yomi ザイ、スイ、セイ
Kun’yomi かる、けず.る

Origin

This character combines a sound hint on the left with a meaning clue on the right. The right side, a small blade radical, suggests cutting or preparing something—which fits the idea of medicine being a prepared substance. The left component 斉 is a sound hint that guides the pronunciation. Together, the blade component and the sound hint create a character that means a measured dose of medicine or the medicine itself, which you might prepare or cut into portions.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

剤 10 strokes

Components

  • 斉 sound hint left
  • 刂 radical right

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

Common words

  • 錠剤 じょうざい pill; lozenge
  • 洗剤 せんざい detergent; cleanser
  • 調剤 ちょうざい making up a prescription; dispensing a prescription
  • 薬剤 やくざい medicine; drug
  • 殺虫剤 さっちゅうざい insecticide; pesticide
  • 鎮痛剤 ちんつうざい analgesic; painkiller
  • 漂白剤 ひょうはくざい bleaching agent; bleach
  • 薬剤師 やくざいし pharmacist; chemist

Related kanji

Same sound component 斉
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
18
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1151 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05264