字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

notebook, account book, album, curtain, veil, net, tent

On’yomi チョウ
Kun’yomi とばり

Origin

This character combines a cloth radical on the left with a sound hint on the right. The cloth component (巾) makes sense for the meaning, since a notebook or account book was traditionally bound with cloth covers, and a curtain or veil is literally made of fabric. The right side (長) doesn't contribute to the meaning but tells you roughly how to pronounce the character. Together, the shape "cloth that serves as a cover or binding" captured the idea of both physical cloth items like curtains and the cloth-bound objects we use to record information, like notebooks and albums.

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

帳 11 strokes

Components

  • 巾 radical left
  • 長 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 記帳 きちょう registry; entry
  • 台帳 だいちょう account book; ledger
  • 帳簿 ちょうぼ account book; register
  • 通帳 つうちょう passbook; bankbook
  • 蚊帳 かや mosquito net
  • 手帳 てちょう notebook; memo pad
  • 帳消し ちょうけし writing off (a debt); cancellation
  • 電話帳 でんわちょう telephone directory; telephone book

Related kanji

Same sound component 長
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
11
Kangxi radical
50
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1459 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05E33