Meaning & readings
animal, beast
On’yomi ジュウ
Kun’yomi けもの、けだもの
Origin
This character combines the component for "big" or "large" (大) with a dot or small mark (丶) that represents an animal or creature. The compound suggests the idea of a large living thing—a beast or wild animal. By pairing the concept of size with an animal indicator, the character captures the notion of a substantial creature, particularly one that is wild or untamed rather than a small domestic pet. This formation reflects how ancient Chinese writers built complex ideas by stacking simpler visual concepts together.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 大
- 丶
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 16
- Kangxi radical
- 94
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1714 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07363