Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

尊: revered, valuable

Also: precious, noble, exalted

JLPT N212 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

寸 carries the meaning · 酋 is drawn in

12 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ソンson · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 尊敬するそんけいするrespect (person)
  • 尊重するそんちょうするrespect (idea, right)
  • 尊敬語そんけいごhonorific word
  • 尊大なそんだいなcondescending, arrogant
  • 自尊心じそんしんself-esteem

とうといtoutoi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 尊いとうとい/たっといprecious, valuable

とうとぶtoutobu · kun'yomi

  • 尊ぶとうとぶ/たっとぶvalue highly

Also read たっとい, たっとぶ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogrammic compound (會意)酋 wine + 寸 hand

Shuowen: Ideogrammic compound (會意): 酋 (“wine”) + 寸 (“hand”) – a hand 寸 offering a vessel of wine 酋 to show respect and veneration.

Source: Wiktionary, 尊 (rev. 93737639), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Vessel + two hands + inch/law (寸). The act of holding a sacred "vessel" with "two hands" according to the "law"—representing "respect" and honor.”
From the 寸 inch story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
酋

Also built on 酋

寸

Also built on inch (寸)

All 24

尊 gives its sound to

Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ソン

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
尊 revered · 寸
vs猶 furthermore · ⺨
尊 has 寸 where 猶 has ⺨.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zūn

Same form: 尊 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
尊 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
尊 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin zūn 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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