丈 means “length, height, sturdy”
じょう · jou
Also: ten shaku, measure, Mr.
- Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
- たけ, だけ
- On'yomi (Chinese reading)
- ジョウ
JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 3 strokes
The story
Three strokes like a hand gripping a measuring rod: 丈 was ten shaku, about three meters. It is height and length, 身の丈 is your stature, and 丈夫, sturdy, is said to have meant a grown man of full height, the root of 大丈夫, all right.
Used in 大丈夫 (daijoubu, all right/OK), 丈夫 (joubu, sturdy/healthy), and 身の丈 (minotake, one's height/stature)
More from Old Measures
- 寸 sun (about 3 cm)
- 坪 tsubo (about 3.3 square meters)
- 厘 rin
- 乙 second
- 斗 dipper
- 尺 shaku
- 升 sho (about 1.8 liters)
- 畝 ridge (in a field)
- 壱 one (formal)
- 弐 two (formal)
- 丙 third (in a series)
- 斤 axe
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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.