Meaning & readings
authority, power, rights
Origin
This character combines the tree radical on the left, which suggests something made of wood, with a sound-hint component on the right that points toward the pronunciation. The left side likely originally pictured a wooden balance scale or weighing device — an object used to measure and determine things with authority. Over time, the image of weighing and measuring evolved into the abstract sense of having power to decide or judge. The full character thus came to mean authority and power, the ability to weigh decisions and determine outcomes.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 木
- 雚V
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 越権 えっけん going beyond authority; unauthorized
- 棄権 きけん abstention (from voting); renunciation (of a right)
- 権威 けんい authority; power
- 権益 けんえき rights and interests (esp. those a country holds abroad)
- 権限 けんげん power; authority
- 権利 けんり right; privilege
- 権力 けんりょく (political) power; authority
- 債権 さいけん credit; claim
Reference
- Strokes
- 15
- Kangxi radical
- 75
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #156 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06A29