Meaning & readings
grade, steps, stairs
Origin
The character 段 appears to be built from two parts working together. On the left, the component 耑 acts as a sound hint, giving a rough pronunciation guide. On the right, 殳 is a classifying element that traditionally relates to tools or implements. The combination likely developed to mean "steps" or "grades" because steps are distinct divisions or segments marked out in sequence—like divisions created by the stroke of a tool. Over time, the meaning broadened from physical steps to the abstract sense of "grade" or "level" in a progression.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 耑V
- 殳
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 79
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #479 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06BB5