沿

JŌYŌ KANJI · Grade 6

run alongside

run alongside · follow along · run along · lie along

8 strokesRadical 85U+6CBF
01

Readings

Official Jōyō readings in table order

On’yomi 音読み

エン

Kun’yomi 訓読み

そう

Additional readings in the learning dataset

On’yomi

None listed in this source.

Kun’yomi

ぞ.い

These are outside the official Jōyō list above. A listed reading is not necessarily common in modern use.

02

Origin and meaning

From the waterside sense came the common action of going along or following a route.

Earlier sense recorded in the sourcethe edge or bank of a river
Meanings in the learning dataset todayrun alongside · follow along · run along · lie along

Read the source entry ↗

03

Written form

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

Dictionary radical水みず · water
Stroke count8May vary for alternate forms.
UnicodeU+6CBFModern 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

  • 沿海,沿線,沿革
  • 沿う,川沿い

Official notes

  • ⇔添う
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 沿.

沿 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 沿 has not been verified in the sources attached to this entry.

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

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