Meaning & readings
excuse, dismissal
On’yomi メン
Kun’yomi まぬか.れる、まぬが.れる
Nanori め
Origin
This character appears to be a picture of a rabbit (兎). In ancient Chinese, the rabbit came to symbolize evasion and escape because of the animal's quick, darting movements and ability to flee danger. From this idea of escaping or evading came the meanings of "excuse" — a way to evade blame or responsibility — and "dismissal," which is a removal or release from duty. The character's eight strokes trace out the rabbit's form in a simplified, stylized way that was used in old Chinese writing.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (免).
Common words
- 減免 げんめん reduction and exemption (e.g. taxes); mitigation and remission (e.g. in criminal law)
- 御免 ごめん I'm sorry; my apologies
- 赦免 しゃめん pardon; remission
- 罷免 ひめん dismissal (from a position); discharge
- 免疫 めんえき immunity; immunization
- 免許 めんきょ license; licence
- 免除 めんじょ exemption; exoneration
- 免状 めんじょう licence; license
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 10
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1080 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+0514D