Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

税: tax, duty

JLPT N212 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

禾 carries the meaning · 兌 gives the sound

12 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ゼイzei · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 税金ぜいきんtax, duty
  • 税関ぜいかんcustoms house
  • 税理士ぜいりしtax counsellor
  • 関税かんぜいcustoms, duty, tariff
  • 所得税しょとくぜいincome tax
  • 間接税かんせつぜいindirect tax
  • 納税するのうぜいするpay taxes
  • 課税するかぜいするtax [v.t.]
  • 脱税するだつぜいするevade tax
  • 増税するぞうぜいするincrease tax
  • 減税するげんぜいするdecrease tax
  • 免税するめんぜいするexempt from taxation [v.t.]

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)禾 (meaning) + 兑 (sound)

Simplified from 稅. Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 禾 + phonetic 兑.

Source: Wiktionary, 税 (rev. 93466861), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Grain (禾) + exchange/release (兑). The "grain" that you must "release" and give to the authority as your formal "tax" payment.”
From the 禾 grain story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
禾

Also built on grain (禾)

All 32
兌

Also built on 兌

The 兌 family reads エツ (etsu); 税 is read ゼイ.

Also read ゼイ

2 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
税 tax · 禾
vs悦 ecstasy · 忄
税 has 禾 where 悦 has 忄.
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 稅 · shuì

Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 税. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 稅.

Simplified
税 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
稅 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin shuì most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

One click tells us. No sign-up.