Meaning & readings
seal, closing
On’yomi フウ、ホウ
Origin
The character 封 combines two components to show the idea of sealing. The left part 圭 represents something precious or pointed, while the right part 寸, which is a measuring unit, works as a classifier indicating this has to do with small, concrete things. Together they suggest the action of closing or sealing something up tightly, like wrapping and securing a valuable item. Over time, this visual idea came to mean "seal" in the sense of both the physical seal used to mark documents and the act of sealing or closing something off.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 圭
- 寸
Common words
- 開封 かいふう opening (a letter, parcel, etc.); breaking the seal
- 完封 かんぷう total blockage; complete shutdown
- 同封 どうふう enclosing (e.g. with a letter)
- 封鎖 ふうさ blockade; lockdown
- 封書 ふうしょ sealed letter
- 封筒 ふうとう envelope
- 封建的 ほうけんてき feudal; feudalistic
- 封じ手 ふうじて sealed move; next move written down and kept sealed in an envelope until the game is resumed the following day
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 41
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1143 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05C01