Meaning & readings
neck, counter for songs and poems
Origin
This character appears to be a pictograph of a human head and neck. The strokes form a simplified drawing showing the round shape of a head on top of a vertical line representing the neck and upper body. Over time, the picture became more abstract and stylized into the modern character form. The word for "neck" then extended to mean "head" and eventually came to be used as a counter for abstract things like songs and poems, possibly because we speak of a song as something we "give voice to" with our head and neck.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (首).
Common words
- 一首 いっしゅ one tanka; one poem
- 機首 きしゅ nose (of plane)
- 元首 げんしゅ sovereign; ruler
- 自首 じしゅ surrender (to the authorities); giving oneself up
- 手首 てくび wrist
- 首相 しゅしょう prime minister; chancellor (Germany, Austria, etc.)
- 首長 しゅちょう head (of organization, organisation); chief
- 首都 しゅと (national) capital (city); metropolis
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 185
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #98 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+09996