Origin

This character combines water (the three-dot radical on the left) with the character 青, which sounds like "sei" and serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The water component points to the character's meaning of purity and cleansing, since water itself was historically associated with removing dirt and spiritual impurity. By pairing the water radical with a sound-carrying component, the character efficiently conveys both what the word means—something related to water and cleanness—and how it should be pronounced. Over time, the meaning expanded beyond just physical cleansing to include abstract ideas of purity.

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