晶 means “crystal”

しょう · shou

Also: sparkle, clear

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ショウ

Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Three suns (日日日) stacked in brilliant light: crystal refracts and multiplies radiance. Japan's quartz crystals from Yamanashi Prefecture were so famous that the region became the nation's jewelry capital. 水晶 (suishou, quartz) literally means "water crystal," capturing the stone's pure transparency.

Used in 水晶 (suishou, quartz/crystal), 結晶 (kesshou, crystallization), and 液晶 (ekishou, liquid crystal/LCD)

More from Earth & Minerals

• 磁 magnet
• 鍛 forge
• 地 earth
• 岩 rock
• 玉 jewel
• 鉄 iron
• 穴 hole
• 原 plain
• 銅 copper
• 炭 charcoal
• 泥 mud
• 宝 treasure

Learn 晶 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.