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Kanji Detail for 獅 - "lion"

獅

  • Meaning

    獅 means "lion." Also associated with shishi.

    1. Lion - The king of beasts.

    2. Fierce - Powerful and majestic.

  • Four-character idioms with 獅

    • 獅子奮迅 ししふんじん Listen furious (energy, battle, etc.); frenzied (work, activity, etc.); ferocious
    • 獅子身中 しししんちゅう Listen treacherous friend; snake in one's bosom; treacherous insider

  • Origin of 獅

    The beast radical 犭 beside 師, which lends the reading shi. The lion is not native to East Asia — it arrived from the west along the trade roads, and reached Japan as a Buddhist guardian: the 獅子 at temple gates, and the shishi-mai lion dance.

    How to remember it: The beast 犭 the masters 師 brought back along the trade roads — the lion of the temple gate.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 獅

    • Verified meaning: lion
    • Jinmeiyō kanji — officially approved for use in Japanese given names
    • Also carries these associations: shishi

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    lion

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    lion

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    (bound form) lion

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    lion

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    獅子 (lion). A fierce beast name. Mostly found in Africa and Brazil in South America. Body length up to seven or eight feet. Head is round and large. Tail is thin and long. Fur is yellowish-brown. Males have a mane. Females are entirely similar to tigers. Its roar can be heard for several miles. All beasts hearing it are terrified and submit. Hence called the king of beasts. Anciently also written as 師.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    shi(シ) シ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    shishi(しし) しし

  • Strokes

    tip

    13 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    犬 犭 (inu・kemonohen)

  • Related Keywords

    lion shishi feline mane fierce majestic predator beast roar wild power strength

Sentences including 獅

More kanji with the radical 犬 犭 (inu・kemonohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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