Origin

This character combines a hand gesture on the left with a component on the right that sounds like "shaku" or "taku," giving a hint to the pronunciation. The hand component suggests the physical action of reaching out and picking something, which connects to the meaning of choosing or selecting. When you choose something, you typically use your hand to pick it from options available to you. Over time, the character came to represent the mental act of selection as well as the physical gesture of picking.

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