Kanji Detail for 棟 - "ridge, building, leader"

棟

Jōyō Kanji

JLPT N1

Meaning
棟 means "ridge, building, leader."
1. Ridge - The highest point of a roof.
2. Building - A structure; a house.
3. Ridgepole - The main beam supporting a roof.
4. Leader - A chief; a head figure.
5. Counter - A word for counting buildings.
Dictionary Citations
The meaning above is based on the following sources:

KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

ridgepole; ridge

Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

the main beams supporting a house

CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

classifier for houses or buildings; ridgepole (old)

Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

ridge-beam; the main support of a house

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

The highest pillar inside a house supporting both walls, under the ridge, is called 棟 (ridgepole), colloquially called the main beam. As the main component of a house, one room is called 一棟. Connected houses are called 連棟. Abundance is described as 汗牛充棟 (enough to make oxen sweat and fill a house). | Important ministers of a nation are called 棟樑 (ridgepole and beam), meaning what everyone relies on, like a house with its ridgepole.
Onyomi

toh(とう)
Kunyomi

kashira(かしら)

muna(むな)

mune(むね)
Strokes

12 strokes
Radical

木 (ki・kihen)
Related Keywords
ridge ridgepole beam building structure house roof peak top leader chief head pillar support main central counter architecture construction backbone