KANJI: SON mura (village, town)

ASCII Art Representation:

         %%%,,                     %%%,,
          %%%%%                    "%%%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%   ,%%,               %%%%   ,%%,
"%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  "%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
         %%%%%%%,,                  %%%%
        %%%%%%  %%%%,   %%,         %%%%
       ,%%%%%%   "%%%%   %%%%,      %%%%
      ,%%%%%%%    "%%"    %%%%%     %%%%
     ,%%% %%%%             %%%%%    %%%%
    ,%%%  %%%%              %%%"    %%%%
  ,%%%"   %%%%                      %%%%
%%""      %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                      %%%%
          %%%%                 "%%%%%%%%
          "%%"                   "%%%%"

Character Etymology:

In modern times, a combination of the character for tree and the character for hand/measure; however the modern day character is the result of some ancient confusion.

The original character meaning village was really a combination of the radicals for metropolis and encampment. Another character which was a combination of tree and encampment meaning lacquer tree was sometimes used as a phonetic substitute. Gradually, this later character took over to mean village and became simplified to its present form.

A Listing of All On-Yomi and Kun-Yomi Readings:

on-yomi: SON
kun-yomi: mura

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: e muta ra

English Definitions:

1. SON, mura: village, hamlet.

Character Index Numbers:

New Nelson: 2564
Henshall: 52

Unicode Encoded Version:

村

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

村人 (murabito): villager.
村長 (sonchou): village mayor, village head.
村八分 (murahachibu): ostracism.
村雨 (murasame): passing rain shower.
村村 (muramura): villages.

  Previous: leg  |  Japanese Kanji  |  Next: big

Vil"lage (?; 48), n. [F., fr. L. villaticus belonging to a country house or villa. See Villa, and cf. Villatic.]

A small assemblage of houses in the country, less than a town or city.

Village cart, a kind of two-wheeled pleasure carriage without a top.

Syn. -- Village, Hamlet, Town, City. In England, a hamlet denotes a collection of houses, too small to have a parish church. A village has a church, but no market. A town has both a market and a church or churches. A city is, in the legal sense, an incorporated borough town, which is, or has been, the place of a bishop's see. In the United States these distinctions do not hold.

© Webster 1913.