Meaning & readings

politics, government

On’yomi セイ、ショウ
Kun’yomi まつりごと、まん
Nanori ただ、まさ

Origin

The character combines two parts to represent government and politics. On the left, serves as a sound hint, suggesting the pronunciation, while on the right, the 攵 component (a form of the "strike" or "action" radical) indicates that this character involves active doing or administration. Together, they create an image of taking action in an orderly or correct way — which is what governing a state requires. The combination essentially captures the idea of the active work involved in ruling and maintaining order.

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

9 strokes

Components

  • sound hint left
  • radical right

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

Common words

  • 家政 かせい household economy; housekeeping
  • 軍政 ぐんせい military administration; military government
  • 憲政 けんせい constitutional government
  • 行政 ぎょうせい executive; government
  • 国政 こくせい national politics; political situation
  • 財政 ざいせい public finance
  • 市政 しせい municipal government
  • 施政 しせい government; administration

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
66
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#17 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+0653F