Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

寿: longevity, congratulations

Also: one's natural life

N1 (our estimate)7 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

三 and 丿 carry the meaning · 寸 carries meaning and sound

7 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ジュju · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 長寿ちょうじゅlong life; longevity
  • 寿命じゅみょう

スsu · on'yomi

  • 寿司すし
  • 恵比寿えびすEbisu; god of fishing and commerce
  • 握り寿司にぎりずしnigirizushi

ことぶきkotobuki · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 寿ことぶきcongratulations; felicitations; best wishes

Also read シュウ, ことぶく, ことほぐ, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Measure it out! Imagine a steady hand marking off a tiny distance with care.”
More in the 寸 inch story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
三

Also built on three (三)

丿

Also built on diagonal sweeping stroke (丿)

All 35
寸

Also built on inch (寸)

All 24

The 寸 sound family doesn't share one reading.

寿 gives its sound to

The family reading is シュ (shu). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ジュ

12 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ス

12 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read シュウ

39 kanji share this on'yomiAll 39

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
寿 longevity · 丿 + 寸
vs承 acquiesce · 了 + 水
寿 has 丿 + 寸 where 承 has 了 + 水.
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 壽 · shòu

Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 寿. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 壽.

Simplified
寿 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
壽 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin shòu most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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