Meaning & readings
yearn after, long for, aspire to, admire, adore
On’yomi ショウ、トウ、ドウ
Kun’yomi あこが.れる
Origin
This character combines a heart radical on the left with the character for child or youth on the right. The heart radical indicates this is about emotions and feelings, while the right side evokes the idea of youth and innocence. Together they express the longing or yearning that comes from the heart—specifically, the kind of deep admiration or aspiration we feel toward something, often with a sense of innocence and purity similar to how a child looks up to others. The emotional pull captured by the heart component combined with youthful admiration creates the meaning of yearning for or aspiring to something.
Components
- 忄
- 童
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 15
- Kangxi radical
- 61
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #2259 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+061A7