Meaning & readings
droop, suspend, hang, slouch
On’yomi スイ
Kun’yomi た.れる、た.らす、た.れ、-た.れ、なんなんと.す
Nanori たる、だれ
Origin
This character combines earth or ground (土) with a shape suggesting something extending downward. The upper component suggests vertical lines hanging or drooping down from a point, which when paired with the earth radical creates the image of something suspended or hanging from above toward the ground. Over time, this visual idea of dangling or drooping motion became the character's core meaning. The character essentially pictures the concept of gravity pulling something downward, which is why it carries meanings related to hanging, drooping, and suspension.
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 32
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1720 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+05782