Meaning & readings

loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness

On’yomi チュウ
Nanori きよし、たた、ただ、ただし、なお

Origin

This character combines a sound hint with a meaning element. The component , which pictures the heart, serves as the semantic part that points toward the character's meaning of loyalty and faithfulness — the heart region was associated with emotions and inner resolve in Chinese philosophy. The top component functions as a sound hint, suggesting roughly how the character should be pronounced rather than contributing to its meaning. Together, these parts create a character that essentially means "what comes from the heart," capturing the idea of genuine, wholehearted commitment that defines loyalty.

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

8 strokes

Components

  • sound hint top
  • radical bottom

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

Common words

  • 忠実 ちゅうじつ faithful; devoted
  • 忠義 ちゅうぎ loyalty; devotion
  • 忠告 ちゅうこく advice; warning
  • 忠誠 ちゅうせい loyalty; sincerity
  • 忠臣 ちゅうしん loyal retainer; loyal subject

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
61
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1113 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05FE0