漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
線: line, track
JLPT N215 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
糸 carries the meaning · 泉 gives the sound
15 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
One reading, and the words that use it
センsen · on'yomi · in compounds
- 線せんline [n.]
- 線路せんろtrain track
- 直線ちょくせんstraight line
- 曲線きょくせんcurve
- 電線でんせんelectric wire
- 戦線せんせんfront (in a war)
- 前線ぜんせんfront line, weather front
- 沿線えんせんalong a train line
- 一番線いちばんせんTrack No. 1
- 新幹線しんかんせんShinkansen
- 水平線すいへいせんhorizon
- 脱線するだっせんするderail, digress
Also read すじ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)糸, as 糹 (meaning) + 泉 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 線 (rev. 92747985), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Thread (糸) + spring/source (泉). A continuous "thread" that flows and stretches like water from a pure "spring"—representing a long, fine line or wire.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side線 line · 糸
vs腺 gland · 月In ChineseSimplified 缐 · traditional, as in Japanese · xiàn
Japan keeps the traditional form 線; mainland China simplifies it to 缐.
- Simplified
- 缐 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 線 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xiàn 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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