Meaning & readings
word, speech, language
Origin
The character 語 combines two parts: the radical 言, which means "word" or "speech" and appears in many characters related to language, and the component 吾 on the right, which serves as a sound hint for how the character is pronounced. The left component 言 carries the core meaning—anything to do with words or talking—while 吾 doesn't add meaning but tells you roughly how to say it. Together they create a character whose meaning (language, speech) comes directly from the 言 part, shaped like a mouth with sound lines to represent speaking.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 言
- 吾
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 14
- Kangxi radical
- 149
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #301 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+08A9E