字の旅3,000 years in four forms
Oracle bone · ShangShang · c. 1200 BCE乙6404 合685 賓組
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
部首Radical · in Tools & Weapons
皿 plate, bowl
さら sara
5 strokesRadical of 8 kanjiPart of 9
Origin · sourced
Pictogram象形
Pictogram (象形) A pictograph of an empty container, such as a chalice. The handles are conjoined in the modern form.
Source: Wiktionary, 皿 (rev. 93648103), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Dinner is served! Imagine a beautiful ceramic plate or a sturdy wooden bowl ready to hold a feast. This radical represents the containers of our lives—not just for food, but for our efforts and rewards. When you see it at the bottom, think of a vessel, a platform for serving, or the things we "contain" and offer to others.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates plates, bowls, vessels, the act of serving food, or the concept of something being "presented" or "contained" on a flat surface.
What it grows into
- 監overseeカン
臥 + 皿
A person looking into a container. Original form of 鑑 (“mirror”).
Ideogrammic compound · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 盟allianceメイ
囧 + 皿sound
Oracle bone script (𥁰): Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 囧 + phonetic 皿.
Phono-semantic compound · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 盛boomセイ · もる
成sound + 皿
Phono-semantic compound · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Every kanji with 皿 as its radical
All 8 kanji