誠

JŌYŌ KANJI · Grade 6

sincerity

sincerity · admonish · warn · prohibit

13 strokesRadical 149U+8AA0
01

Readings

Official Jōyō readings in table order

On’yomi 音読み

セイ

Kun’yomi 訓読み

まこと
02

Origin and meaning

Formed with the speech radical and a sound element, referring to words that are true and sincere.

Earlier sense recorded in the sourcetruth and sincerity
Meanings in the learning dataset todaysincerity · admonish · warn · prohibit

Read the source entry ↗

03

Written form

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

Dictionary radical言ことば · word / speech
Stroke count13May vary for alternate forms.
UnicodeU+8AA0Modern 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

  • 誠実,誠意,至誠
  • 誠,誠に
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 誠.

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

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

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