爵 means “peerage, noble rank”

しゃく · shaku

Also: baron, court rank

On'yomi (Chinese reading)
シャク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 17 strokes

The story

Once a picture of a bronze ritual wine cup, held in a hand (寸): the vessel of court ceremony came to mean court rank. 爵 is a noble title, from 公爵, duke, to 男爵, baron, and 男爵いも is the potato named for the baron who brought it to Japan.

Used in 爵位 (shakui, peerage/title), 男爵 (danshaku, baron), and 伯爵 (hakushaku, count/earl)

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