In Japanese, this character is commonly read さむらい (samurai) and refers to the warrior class.
Originally, 侍 meant “one who serves (an aristocrat or lord)”, which is why it later became synonymous with samurai in Japan.

Phono-semantic compound:
人 (인, “person”) – provides the meaning (a person performing service);
寺 (사, “temple”) – provides the sound.

Appears in words like 侍中 (시중, “royal attendant” or “one who serves closely”).

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

low, to be low, lower than

to live, to reside, to dwell

how, what, which

Buddha, Buddhism

to make, to build, to create, composition

to cause, to order, to use, to employ

to come, to arrive, future, afterward

law, rule, regulation, example, instance, precedent, model

to serve, to attend

to rely on, to depend on, to lean on

convenient, comfortable, excrement

to tie, to be tied, to connect, to relate

to urge, hasten

custom, common, vulgar

to protect, preserve, keep

to trust, to believe, to be true

to repair, to revise, to cultivate, to build, to refine

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

侍

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 侍

Additional notes

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References