漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
歯: tooth, cog
JLPT N312 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
米 and 凵 carry the meaning · 止 gives the sound
12 strokes
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Shang Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
シshi · on'yomi · in compounds
- 歯科医しかいdentist
- 永久歯えいきゅうしpermanent tooth
- 乳歯にゅうしmilk tooth, first set of teeth
はha · kun'yomi · on its own
- 歯はtooth
- 歯車はぐるまgear, cog
- 歯医者はいしゃdentist
- 歯ブラシはブラシtoothbrush
- 歯磨きはみがきbrushing (one's ) teeth
- 歯止めはどめbrake [n.]
- 虫歯むしば(tooth) cavity
Also read よわい, よわい, よわいする, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
A mouth full of teeth. Now phono-semantic compound (形聲) with phonetic 止 added.
Source: Wiktionary, 齒 (rev. 92930173), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base kanji for a tooth, representing the fundamental tool for eating and the marker of physical growth and age.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
歯 takes the 止 family's reading, シ (shi).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side歯 tooth · 止 + 凵
vs粘 sticky · 占In ChineseSimplified 齿 · traditional 齒 · chǐ
Three different forms: Japanese 歯, simplified 齿, traditional 齒.
- Simplified
- 齿 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 齒 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin chǐ 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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