漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
善: virtuous, good
Also: goodness
口 carries the meaning · 羊 is drawn in
Two readings, and the words that use each
ゼンzen · on'yomi · in compounds
- 善意ぜんいgood faith, good will
- 善人ぜんにんgood people
- 善行ぜんこうgood deed
- 善悪ぜんあくgood and evil
- 最善さいぜんthe very best
- 親善試合しんぜんじあいfriendly match
- 善良なぜんりょうなvirtuous, good
- 偽善的なぎぜんてきなhypocritical
- 改善するかいぜんするbetter, improve
よいyoi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 善いよいgood, nice, pleasant
Also read いい, よく, よしとする, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)誩 to wrangle + 羊 sheep
Originally written 譱 in bronze inscriptions, consisting of two 言 and one 羊. The 言 might have served as the phonetic component, while 羊 represented the sense "good; beautiful" (see 祥, 義).
Source: Wiktionary, 善 (rev. 93425554), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Sheep (羊) + words (言). Words that are as gentle and "good" as a sheep—representing the peak of moral virtue and social excellence.”
Connections
Also read ゼン
10 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shàn
Same form: 善 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 善 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 善 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shàn most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.