JŌYŌ KANJI · Grade 4
flourish
flourish · prosperity · honor · glory
Readings
Official Jōyō readings in table order
On’yomi 音読み
Kun’yomi 訓読み
Additional readings in the learning dataset
On’yomi
Kun’yomi
These are outside the official Jōyō list above. A listed reading is not necessarily common in modern use.
Origin and meaning
The old form combines tree with a sound element and originally named the paulownia; it was borrowed for shining, flourishing, and glory.
Written form
The official Jōyō table also prints the following parenthesized form beside 栄:
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.
Examples in the official table
- 栄枯，栄養，繁栄
- 栄える，栄え
- 栄えある，見栄え，出来栄え
- 栄える
Official notes
- ⇔映え
- ⇔映える
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 栄.
栄 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 栄 has not been verified in the sources attached to this entry.
Agency for Cultural Affairs: writing history ↗ · 2010 Jōyō notice ↗