Meaning & readings
play with, tamper, trifle with
On’yomi ロウ、ル
Kun’yomi いじく.る、ろう.する、いじ.る、ひねく.る、たわむ.れる、もてあそ.ぶ
Origin
The character combines two elements: the top part suggests something precious or valuable like jade (王), while the bottom part represents hands or grasping (廾). Together they depict the idea of handling or manipulating something with your hands, which naturally led to meanings like playing with, tampering with, or trifling with an object. This reflects how when you toy with something, you're moving it around in your hands somewhat carelessly or for amusement rather than serious purpose.
Components
- 王
- 廾
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 55
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- —
- Former JLPT
- —
- Unicode
- U+05F04