Meaning & readings

revered, valuable, precious, noble, exalted

On’yomi ソン
Kun’yomi たっと.い、とうと.い、たっと.ぶ、とうと.ぶ
Nanori さだ、たか、たけ、みこと

Origin

The top part 酋 originally depicted a wine vessel or jug, which in ancient China was an expensive, precious object that only the wealthy and important people could possess and display. The bottom part is a measure of length, used here as a classifier to indicate value or worth. By combining the image of a precious wine vessel with the idea of measurement and worth, the character came to mean something that is revered, valuable, and noble—reflecting how such fine objects were treasured by people of high status.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

12 strokes

Components

  • meaning part top
  • radical bottom

Common words

  • 自尊 じそん self-respect; esteem
  • 尊敬 そんけい respect; esteem
  • 尊厳 そんげん dignity; majesty
  • 尊重 そんちょう respect; esteem
  • 尊称 そんしょう honorific title
  • 本尊 ほんぞん principal object of worship (at a Buddhist temple); principal image
  • 尊い とうとい precious; valuable
  • 尊ぶ とうとぶ to value; to prize

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
41
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1181 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05C0A