漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
消: extinguish, blow out
Also: turn off, neutralize, cancel
JLPT N310 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
氵 carries the meaning · 肖 gives the sound
10 strokes
Three readings, and the words that use each
ショウshou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 消防車しょうぼうしゃfire-engine
- 消費者しょうひしゃconsumer
- 消火器しょうかきfire extinguisher
- 消極的なしょうきょくてきなpassive
- 消火するしょうかするextinguish a fire
- 消化するしょうかするdigest [v.t.]
- 消毒するしょうどくするdisinfect, sterilize
- 解消するかいしょうするcancel, liquidate
きえるkieru · kun'yomi · on its own
- 消えるきえるgo out, disappear [v.i.]
けすkesu · kun'yomi
- 消すけすerase, delete, turn off [v.t.]
- 消しゴムけしゴムeraser
- 消印けしいんpostmark
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)水 water, as 氵 (meaning) + 肖 (sound)
To extinguish something (with water).
Source: Wiktionary, 消 (rev. 92161896), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Imagine three raindrops falling—that's sanzui! Whenever you see these three dots on the left side of a kanji, think of water, liquids, or anything that flows.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
肖
Also built on resemblance (肖)
消 takes the 肖 family's reading, ショウ (shou).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side消 extinguish · 氵
vs宵 wee hours · 宀In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xiāo
Same form: 消 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 消 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 消 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xiāo 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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