Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

掃: sweep, brush

JLPT N211 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

扌 carries the meaning · 帚 gives the sound

11 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ソウsou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 掃除機そうじきvacuum cleaner
  • 掃除婦そうじふcleaning lady
  • 掃除するそうじするclean [v.t.]
  • 清掃するせいそうするclean [v.t.]
  • 一掃するいっそうするmake a clean sweep

はくhaku · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 掃くはくsweep, brush

Also read シュ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine a hand reaching out from the left to grab, hold, or shape the world! When you see these three strokes, think of a hand in motion.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
掃 sweep · 扌
vs婦 lady · 女
掃 has 扌 where 婦 has 女.
In ChineseSimplified 扫 · traditional, as in Japanese · sǎo

Japan keeps the traditional form 掃; mainland China simplifies it to 扫.

Simplified
扫 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
掃 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin sǎo 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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