字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

sell

On’yomi バイ
Kun’yomi う.る、う.れる
Nanori うり、うる、め

Origin

The character 売 combines two elements to express "sell." The bottom component 買 (which sounds like "バイ") provides the pronunciation hint. The top component 士 appears to function as a meaning classifier or modifier. Together, these parts were combined to create a character that sounds like the word for "sell" while being visually distinct from 買, which means "buy" — its opposite. The slight visual difference between these two characters helped speakers keep the opposite concepts clearly separated.

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

売 7 strokes

Components

  • 士 radical top
  • 買V sound hint bottom

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

Common words

  • 競売 きょうばい auction
  • 商売 しょうばい trade; business
  • 専売 せんばい monopoly; monopolization
  • 即売 そくばい selling on the spot
  • 転売 てんばい resale
  • 特売 とくばい special sale; bargain sale
  • 読売 よみうり Yomiuri (newspaper, etc. group)
  • 売る うる to sell

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
33
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#202 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+058F2