星
Meaning in Englishstar
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Related sentences
There are no published items in this section yet.
Word context
What it means
星 (hoshi) means 'star': a luminous celestial object seen as a point of light in the night sky; in Japanese it refers primarily to individual stars observed in astronomy and everyday speech about the sky.
Main meanings
- 1) A star-shaped symbol or glyph used in typography and ratings (as an icon for quality or emphasis).
- 2) A famous or celebrated person when used metaphorically (as in calling someone a 'star').
- 3) Component in compound words referring to constellations, meteor phenomena, and astrology.
- 4) Technical astronomical sense distinguishing types of stars (used in scientific terms).
How to use it
Used in everyday speech to talk about the night sky and celestial observations (common and casual), in newspapers and scientific contexts (formal) when referring to astronomical objects, and widely in compound words and names; it also appears in ratings and brand names and can be a surname or given name element, and is read in compounds with the on-yomi sei in technical or Sino-Japanese terms.
Variants and close terms
- 恒星 (kousei) — fixed star, stellar (astronomical term)
- 衛星 (eisei) — satellite (literally 'guard star')
- 太陽 (taiyou) — sun (the star at the center of our system)
- 月 (tsuki) — moon (often treated as a contrasting celestial body)
- 星形 (hoshigata) — star-shaped
Composition
- 日 (sun/day) on top and 生 (life/birth) below combine visually in the character to suggest a shining or 'born' luminous body, giving the meaning associated with a star.
Origin
The concept of stars existed in Japan long before writing; after Chinese characters were introduced (early centuries CE) the character 星 (hoshi) was adopted to label visible stars, and it appears in classical poetry, calendrical texts, navigation and later in Edo-period astronomy and popular astrology.
Word class
noun (名詞)