Meaning & readings

bottom, sole, depth, bottom price, base, kind, sort

On’yomi テイ
Kun’yomi そこ

Origin

The character combines a roof or shelter radical (广) with a sound hint component (氐) that indicates its pronunciation. The roof radical suggests a physical structure or enclosed space, which connects to the meaning of "bottom" or "base"—the lowest part of a structure. The sound component 氐 doesn't contribute to the meaning but signals roughly how the character should be pronounced. Together, these parts create a character for the lowest point or foundation of something, whether it's the bottom of a container, the sole of a foot, or the base price of a good.

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

8 strokes

Components

  • 广 radical top-left wrap
  • sound hint tarec

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

Common words

  • 海底 かいてい bottom of the ocean; seafloor
  • 根底 こんてい root; basis
  • 谷底 たにぞこ valley floor; bottom of a gorge
  • 底値 そこね bottom price
  • 底力 そこぢから hidden reserves of strength; latent energy
  • 徹底 てってい thoroughness; completeness
  • 到底 とうてい (cannot) possibly; (not) by any means
  • 底辺 ていへん base (of a polygon)

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
53
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#867 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05E95