数
すう · suu · JLPT N3 · adverb
number
🔢 suu sounds like sum: a sum is a number you get by counting
数 is the on-reading すう, borrowed from Chinese shù. It appears in 数学 (suugaku) = number + study = mathematics, and 数字 (suuji) = number + character = digit. The same kanji read かず (kazu) is the native word for number.
数 — 婁 (lóu, phonetic) + 攵 (action radical)
数 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, originally tallying or counting by striking marks. The left side 婁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to count' to 'number' and 'several'.
かず · kazu · JLPT N3 · adverb
figure
🧮 kazu sounds like kazoo: count the toots, and the total is your number
Break 数 into parts: 米 rice, 女 woman and 攵 a hand tapping with a stick. Counting rice grains by tapping them one at a time gives you a number. In compounds it is read スウ (sū), as in 数学 sūgaku, mathematics.
数 — 婁 (lóu, phonetic) + 攵 (action radical)
数 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, originally tallying or counting by striking marks. The left side 婁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to count' to 'number' and 'several'.