漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
首: neck, counter for songs and poems
JLPT N39 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
9 strokes
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou 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
シュshu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 首都しゅとcapital city
- 首脳しゅのうhead, leader, chief
- 首相しゅしょうPrime Minister, Chancellor
- 首席しゅせきtop seat
- 首位しゅいfirst place, head position
- 部首ぶしゅradical (of kanji)
- 党首とうしゅparty leader
- 機首きしゅnose of a plane
- 絞首刑こうしゅけいdeath by hanging
- 自首するじしゅするsurrender, give oneself up
くびkubi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 首くびneck
- 手首てくびwrist
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
Simplified from 𩠐. Originally pictogram (象形) of the head of an animal with a long mouth and horns.
Source: Wiktionary, 首 (rev. 93606022), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Look at the head of a great leader! The top strokes show hair standing tall, and the eye represents the vision and awareness of the person.”
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首 neck
vs夏 summer · 一 + 夂In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shǒu
Same form: 首 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 首 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 首 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shǒu 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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