Meaning & readings
section, bureau, dept, class, copy, part, portion, counter for copies of a newspaper or magazine
Origin
The character 部 combines a sound hint on the left with a classifier on the right. The left component 咅 suggests the character's pronunciation. The right component is a classifier that originally indicated grouping or organization—it's the same element used in characters related to dividing things into categories. Together, these parts create a character meaning a section or organized group, like a department or bureau. The visual structure reinforces the idea of something that belongs to a larger whole and has been sorted into its proper place.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 咅
- ⻏
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 163
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #36 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+090E8