Meaning & readings
investigate
Origin
The character 査 combines wood (木) on top with 且 below, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation "sa." The wood radical might initially seem odd for "investigate," but it likely references the practice of examining wooden records or documents — in ancient times, important information was often written on bamboo or wood strips. By attaching the sound component 且, the character was formed to represent this investigative act of scrutinizing written materials. Over time, the meaning generalized from examining documents to the broader sense of investigating or inspecting anything.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Common words
- 検査 けんさ inspection (e.g. customs, factory); examination
- 査察 ささつ inspection (for compliance); investigation (tax, etc.)
- 査証 さしょう visa
- 査定 さてい assessment (of value, damages, etc.); revision (of a budget)
- 査問 さもん inquiry; enquiry
- 主査 しゅさ chief examiner or investigator
- 巡査 じゅんさ police officer; policeman
- 審査 しんさ judging; inspection
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 75
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #184 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+067FB