漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife
酒: sake, alcohol
氵 and 酉 carry the meaning
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
シュshu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 酒造しゅぞうsake brewing
- 洋酒ようしゅWestern liquor
- 清酒せいしゅrefined sake
- 日本酒にほんしゅsake, Japanese rice wine
- 飲酒運転いんしゅうんてんdrunken driving
さけsake · kun'yomi · on its own
- 酒さけalcoholic beverages
- 酒癖さけぐせdrunken behavior
- 酒飲みさけのみdrinker
- 甘酒あまざけsweet half sake
さか-saka- · kun'yomi
- 酒屋さかやsake dealer
- 酒場さかばbar, bar-room
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- お神酒おみきlibation, sake offered to a god
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)水 (meaning) + 酉 (sound)
酉 is the original pictogram for this word; 水 was added later to distinguish.
Source: Wiktionary, 酒 (rev. 92678377), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Water (氵) + wine vessel (酉). The specific "liquid" that is brewed and kept inside a "wine vessel"—the literal definition of sake or any alcoholic drink.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · jiǔ
Same form: 酒 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 酒 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 酒 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin jiǔ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.