巽
southeast
JLPTN1StatusJinmeiyōFrequencyTop 5,000Strokes12
Readings
On'yomi
- ソン
Kun'yomi
- たつみ
Meaning
巽 centers on the southeast direction, one of the eight trigrams in Chinese cosmology. Its meaning is specific to this directional concept.
Most common words using 巽
Study
Etymology
巽 is one of the eight trigrams (八卦) representing wind and the southeast direction. Its exact historical development as a character is uncertain, but it is associated with the concept of entering or submitting, which aligns with the yielding nature of wind.
Meaning mnemonic
The two 巳 shapes above 共 can be seen as two snakes (巳) sharing (共) a path, winding toward the southeast corner of a map.
Reading mnemonic
For ソン, imagine a son (ソン) pointing to the southeast on a compass, saying 'That's where the wind comes from.'