Meaning & readings
duty, war, campaign, drafted labor, office, service, role
Origin
The left component shows a person walking or standing, while the right component represents a weapon or tool. Together they depict a person carrying out duties or military service, which evolved into the general meaning of duty or office. The character essentially shows someone actively engaged in their assigned role or labor, whether as a soldier in a campaign or in civilian service. This visual combination of a person in action with implements of work captures the core idea of obligation and service that the character carries today.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 彳
- 殳
Common words
- 悪役 あくやく villain; baddie
- 現役 げんえき active duty; active service
- 三役 さんやく three highest ranks (wrestling, unions, etc.)
- 主役 しゅやく leading part; leading actor
- 重役 じゅうやく (company) director; executive
- 助役 じょやく assistant official
- 代役 だいやく substitute (actor); stand-in
- 懲役 ちょうえき penal servitude; imprisonment with hard labor (hard labour)
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 60
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #315 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05F79