漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
松: pine tree
JLPT N18 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met
木 carries the meaning · 公 gives the sound
8 strokes
Two readings, and the words that use each
ショウshou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 松竹梅しょうちくばいpine, bamboo, plum
まつmatsu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 松まつpine tree, highest rank
- 松林まつばやしpine forest
- 松葉まつばpine needle
- 松茸まつたけmatsutake mushroom
- 門松かどまつNew Year's decorative pine trees
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)木 wood (meaning) + 公 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 松 (rev. 93396557), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Stand before a great, ancient tree and see 木! The vertical line is the sturdy trunk, the top strokes are branches reaching for the sunlight, and the bottom strokes are the roots gripping the earth.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
公
Also built on public (公)
松 takes the 公 family's reading, ショウ (shou).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side松 pine tree · 木 + 公
vs私 private · 禾 + 厶In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · sōng
Same form: 松 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 松 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 松 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin sōng 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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