Meaning
叔 means uncle — specifically, a father's or mother's younger brother. Birth order carried enormous weight in traditional East Asian families, and 叔 was built around that logic. The classical Chinese system ranked brothers with four characters: 伯 (eldest), 仲 (second), 叔 (third), and 季 (youngest). That third-place origin is why 叔 still signals something junior or secondary, even in modern Japanese usage.
Etymologically, 叔 is an ideographic compound. It fuses 尗 — representing something small or young — with 又, a hand. The original image shows someone bending down to gather the last grains of millet after a harvest: picking up what the elders left behind. That humble act became a metaphor for the younger sibling who inherits what remains after the eldest takes his share. From there, the meaning settled into the specific role of a younger paternal uncle.
At 8 strokes, 叔 sits at grade 8 in the Jōyō curriculum — high school level, fitting its specialized role in family terms and classical texts. Its radical is 又 (mata), the right hand, which recurs across kanji involving action or possession. Spotting 又 is a useful anchor when distinguishing 叔 from visually similar characters.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
シュク (shuku) is 叔's on'yomi, descended from Middle Chinese. It rarely surfaces in spoken Japanese, but becomes necessary for historical texts, legal family registers, and classical literature where the Chinese-derived pronunciation is preserved.
- 叔父 (shukufu) — uncle; the formal Chinese-derived reading, used in literary or documentary contexts
- 伯叔 (hakushuku) — uncles collectively (both elder 伯 and younger 叔); a formal genealogical term
- 叔世 (shukusei) — a declining era; the twilight of a dynasty, metaphorically the youngest and weakest stage of an age
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
叔 has no standalone kun'yomi. It functions almost exclusively inside compounds, where the reading belongs to the whole word rather than to 叔 alone. Take 叔父 (oji) — those two characters together produce the everyday Japanese word for uncle. The same holds for 叔母 (oba). Treat both as whole vocabulary entries rather than character-by-character readings.
- 叔父 (oji) — uncle; the standard everyday word, used in both casual and polite speech
- 叔母 (oba) — aunt; the standard everyday word for aunt (younger aunt in precise usage)
- 大叔父 (ōoji) — great-uncle; one's grandparent's younger brother
Common Words & Compounds
叔 may be N1, but its compounds are words you genuinely need for family conversations and formal documents alike. They split naturally by register.
Everyday Family Terms (日常語・家族関係)
- 叔父 (oji) — uncle; the most common everyday word for one's father's or mother's younger brother
- 叔母 (oba) — aunt; the most common everyday word for one's father's or mother's younger sister
- 叔父さん (ojisan) — uncle (polite/affectionate form); also used colloquially for any middle-aged man
- 叔母さん (obasan) — aunt (polite/affectionate form); also used colloquially for any middle-aged woman
- 大叔父 (ōoji) — great-uncle; grandparent's brother
- 大叔母 (ōoba) — great-aunt; grandparent's sister
Formal and Literary Compounds (正式語・文語)
- 叔父 (shukufu) — uncle (formal Chinese-derived reading, used in legal documents and classical texts)
- 叔母 (shukubo) — aunt (formal Chinese-derived reading)
- 伯叔 (hakushuku) — one's uncles collectively; formal genealogical usage
- 叔世 (shukusei) — a decadent or declining era; the late, weakened stage of a historical period
- 伯仲叔季 (hakuchū shukuki) — the classical four-rank system for brothers: eldest (伯), second (仲), third (叔), youngest (季)
Example Sentences
わたしの叔父は大阪に住んでいます。
Watashi no oji wa Ōsaka ni sunde imasu.
My uncle lives in Osaka.
叔母さんから誕生日プレゼントをもらいました。
Obasan kara tanjōbi purezento wo moraimashita.
I received a birthday present from my aunt.
叔父は父の弟で、とても面白い人です。
Oji wa chichi no otōto de, totemo omoshiroi hito desu.
My uncle is my father's younger brother, and he is a very interesting person.
子供のころ、よく叔父の家に遊びに行きました。
Kodomo no koro, yoku oji no ie ni asobi ni ikimashita.
When I was a child, I often went to play at my uncle's house.
叔母は料理が上手で、毎年正月には特別な料理を作ってくれます。
Oba wa ryōri ga jōzu de, maitoshi shōgatsu ni wa tokubetsu na ryōri wo tsukutte kuremasu.
My aunt is a great cook, and every New Year's she makes something special for the family.
その小説では、主人公が叔父の遺産をめぐって争っています。
Sono shōsetsu de wa, shujinkō ga oji no isan wo megutte arasotte imasu.
In that novel, the protagonist is fighting over his uncle's inheritance.
大叔父は九十歳を超えても、とても元気に暮らしています。
Ōoji wa kyūjussai wo koete mo, totemo genki ni kurashite imasu.
My great-uncle is going strong even past ninety.
伯仲叔季という言葉は、兄弟の順序を示す古い表現です。
Hakuchū shukuki to iu kotoba wa, kyōdai no junjo wo shimesu furui hyōgen desu.
The phrase "hakuchū shukuki" is an old expression for ranking brothers by birth order.
叔世の乱れた風潮を憂えた詩人たちは、古の徳を詩に詠んだ。
Shukusei no midareta fūchō wo ureeta shijin-tachi wa, inishie no toku wo shi ni yonda.
Poets troubled by the disorder of a declining age turned to verse to honor the virtues of ancient times.
Memory Tip
Picture the youngest sibling in a large family bending down with their hand (又) to pick up the small leftover beans (尗) that the older brothers scattered on the ground. The youngest always collects what the elders passed over — that is 叔, the one who comes after. Next time you see 叔父 or 叔母, let the 叔 remind you: younger branch, not the heir.