作 (Build) - Meaning and history | Japanese Kanji

The kanji 作 means make, prepare, produce, develop. 作 can also mean harvest, cultivation. The kanji is related to something that is made, created, or produced.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of 作, its origin, and how it is used through real example sentences.

Origin of the kanji 作

作 is formed by:

• Kanji 人(ひと) in its radical form 亻 which means man, person

• 乍, the part on the right of the radical, represented in its original pictogram the act of cutting the branches of trees.

What does kanji mean 作

The kanji 作 represents both a verb and a noun:

• As a verb it means to build, to produce, to prepare

• As a noun it refers to production, harvest, cultivation and also technique

Some words that contain the kanji 作 are for example:

• 作(さく)文(ぶん) composition, writing

• 原(げん)作(さく) an original work

• 稲(いな)作(さく) the cultivation of rice

• 作(さく)物(もつ) the agricultural product

Variations of the kanji

In its pronunciation kun つく, this kanji has variants that are synonymous and all have the same reading:

• 造(つく)る make, produce, build. This variation of the kanji is used when making or producing something big.

• 創(つく)る make, create. This variation of the kanji is used when creating new things.

Kanji readings 作

Let's now see the various On and Kun readings that characterize the kanji 作.

Kun readings of the kanji 作 🇯🇵

つく

This reading represents the verb in its dictionary form and means to produce, to prepare, to make.

づく

The deaf sound つ becomes sonorous づ when there is the union of two terms as in:

• 家(いえ)づくり the building of a house

On readings of the kanji 作 🇨🇳

There are two main On readings.

さく

This is the most used reading in the language. Some words that contain さく are:

• 遺(い)作(さく) is the posthumous work

• 作(さく)話(わ)症(しょう) combines the kanji of doing + word + pathology and means in psychiatric jargon the confabulation

• 作(さく)成(せい) is the elaboration, the compilation, the drafting

• 作(さく)成(せい)する noun 作成 + the verb する (to do) means compile, redact

• 作(さく)戦(せん) means tactic, strategy

さ

• 発(ほっ)作(さ) in the medical field it is the spasm, the convulsion, the crisis

• 感(かん)作(さ) is the sensitization in the medical field with respect to a drug; for this term we also find the reading かんさく