漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence
主: lord, chief
Also: master, main thing, principal
亠 carries the meaning · 王 is drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Today
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Five readings, and the words that use each
シュshu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 主人しゅじんone's own husband
- 主婦しゅふhousewife
- 民主主義みんしゅしゅぎdemocracy
- 主要なしゅようなmain
- 主体的なしゅたいてきなsubjective
- 主張するしゅちょうするclaim, insist
スsu · on'yomi
- 坊主ぼうずBuddhist priest
ぬしnushi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 持ち主もちぬしowner
- 株主かぶぬしstockholder
おもomo · kun'yomi
- 主におもにmainly
あるじaruji · kun'yomi
- 一家の主いっかのあるじmaster of the household
Also read シュウ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
Three distinct forms can be observed in ancient scripts, all of which have merged into the same character in modern script:.
Source: Wiktionary, 主 (rev. 93643025), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Dot (丶) + king (王). Imagine a lamp with a single "dot" representing the flame—originally meaning the "master" or the central "main" point of a household.”
Connections
主 gives its sound to
The family reading is チュウ (chuu). Sound parts: KanjiVG.
Also read ス
12 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zhǔ
Same form: 主 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 主 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 主 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin zhǔ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.