召

JŌYŌ KANJI · Secondary school

seduce

seduce · call · send for · wear

5 strokesRadical 30U+53EC
01

Readings

Official Jōyō readings in table order

On’yomi 音読み

ショウ

Kun’yomi 訓読み

めす
02

Origin and meaning

A mouth semantic element combined with 刀 as the sound element, expressing calling or summoning someone.

Earlier sense recorded in the sourceto call someone over with the voice
Meanings in the learning dataset todayseduce · call · send for · wear

Read the source entry ↗

03

Written form

No parenthesized form is given in the official Jōyō index for this character.

Dictionary radical口くち · mouth / opening
Stroke count5May vary for alternate forms.
UnicodeU+53ECModern character encoding, not an origin date.

Compare manuscript and printed examples in the HNG historical glyph archive ↗. Where available, its dated samples document written forms; they do not establish the first use of this character in Japan.

04

Examples in the official table

  • 召喚,国会の召集
  • 召す,召し上がる
05

When did it enter Japanese?

Chinese characters reached Japan through a long process of contact. Early inscribed objects and sixth-century Japanese names are documented; this is context for the writing system, not a first date for 召.

召 appears in the current Jōyō kanji table published on 30 November 2010. This records modern standard status, not the date the character was first used in Japan.

A dated first Japanese use for 召 has not been verified in the sources attached to this entry.

Agency for Cultural Affairs: writing history ↗ · 2010 Jōyō notice ↗

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