Meaning & readings
ward, district
On’yomi ク、オウ、コウ
Origin
This character appears to show a bounded area divided into sections. The box-like shape (匸) suggests an enclosed space or boundary, while the crossing marks inside represent division or separation. Together, these elements convey the idea of a region that is marked off and subdivided from larger territory—exactly what a ward or district is. Over time, this visual representation of "divided space" became the standard way to write the word for administrative divisions in Japanese.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 匸
- 乂
- 匸
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 4
- Kangxi radical
- 23
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #137 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+0533A