旬
decameron, ten-day period, season (for specific products)
Readings
On'yomi
- ジュン
- シュン
Kun'yomi
—
Meaning
旬 centers on a fixed ten-day cycle, which is the traditional way to mark time in months. The idea of a season for specific products extends naturally from this: a period when something is at its best.
Most common words using 旬
- 旬じゅん
ten-day period (in a month)
- 旬しゅんN1
season (for fruit, seafood, etc.); best time of the year (for)
- 下旬げじゅんN3
last third of a month; 21st to the last day of a month
- 中旬ちゅうじゅんN3
middle ten days of a month; 11th to 20th day of a month
- 上旬じょうじゅんN3
first third of a month; first ten days of a month
- 初旬しょじゅんN3
first 10 days of the month
- 旬報じゅんぽう
ten-day report
- 一旬いちじゅん
ten days
- 五旬祭ごじゅんさい
Pentecost
- 五旬節ごじゅんせつ
Shavuot; Feast of Weeks; (Jewish) Pentecost
- 四旬節しじゅんせつ
Lent
- 旬の魚しゅんのさかな
fish in season
- 旬余じゅんよ
over ten days
- 旬刊じゅんかん
published every ten days
- 旬外れじゅんはずれ
off-season
- 旬日じゅんじつ
ten-day period
- 旬月じゅんげつ
month and ten days; ten months; short time
- 旬間じゅんかん
period of ten days
- 最旬さいしゅん
hottest (e.g. fashion); freshest; in vogue
- 波旬はじゅん
killer demon; demon who strives to destroy all goodness
Study
Etymology
旬 combines 勹 (wrap) and 日 (sun/day), suggesting a wrapped bundle of days — a ten-day period. This is a well-established semantic compound.
Meaning mnemonic
The enclosure 勹 wraps around the sun 日, like bundling ten days into a neat package. That package is a ten-day period, and when a food is in its best ten-day window, it's in season.
Reading mnemonic
For ジュン, imagine a ten-day period in June when strawberries are in season: June -> ジュン, and the sun 日 inside the wrap 勹 marks the days.