漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
最: utmost, most
Also: extreme
日 carries the meaning · 取 is drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
サイsai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 最後さいごlast
- 最初さいしょfirst
- 最近さいきんrecently
- 最高さいこうbest
- 最低さいていworst
- 最大さいだいlargest
- 最小さいしょうsmallest
- 最長さいちょうlongest
- 最短さいたんshortest
- 最新さいしんlatest
もっともmottomo · kun'yomi · on its own
- 最ももっともmost
Also read シュ, つま, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)宀 roof (meaning) + 取 (sound)
Originally 㝡, phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 宀 (“roof”) + phonetic 取 – "to gather". Later 二 was added as distinguishing marks to disambiguate the character for the meaning "the most".
Source: Wiktionary, 最 (rev. 94593375), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“A hat/covering (冃) + to say (曰). It originally referred to a "covering" or a final point above a "saying"—meaning the highest, "most" extreme, or "best" point of a situation.”
Connections
Also built on take (取)
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zuì
Same form: 最 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 最 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 最 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin zuì most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.