Meaning & readings

ecstasy, joy, rapture

On’yomi エツ
Kun’yomi よろこ.ぶ、よろこ.ばす
Nanori や、よし

Origin

This character combines the heart radical on the left, which marks the character as relating to emotions or feelings, with the component 兌 on the right that serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The heart radical is the key to the meaning—joy and ecstasy are fundamentally emotional experiences centered in the heart. The right component doesn't contribute meaning but guides how the character should be pronounced, making this an efficient way to write down the concept of happiness while hinting at its sound.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

10 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 満悦 まんえつ great delight; great satisfaction

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
61
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1762 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+060A6