Meaning & readings
new
On’yomi シン
Kun’yomi あたら.しい、あら.た、あら-、にい-
Nanori あせ、あたらし、し、に、にっ、につ、よし
Origin
The character 新 combines wood (木) with a sound hint component on the left. The sound component 辛 suggests the Chinese pronunciation, while the right side 斤 (an axe-like tool) acts as a semantic classifier pointing toward the meaning of "new." Together, these parts evoke the idea of freshly cut wood — wood that has just been worked with an axe — which naturally suggests something newly made or fresh. This visual and conceptual link between freshly hewn timber and the idea of newness stuck as the character developed.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 13
- Kangxi radical
- 69
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #51 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+065B0