字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

embrace, hug, hold in arms

On’yomi ホウ
Kun’yomi だ.く、いだ.く、かか.える
Nanori たば

Origin

The character combines the hand radical on the left, which indicates this is an action done with the hands, with the component 包 on the right. The 包 component serves as a sound hint, suggesting the character's pronunciation, while the hand radical carries the meaning. Together they depict the action of using your hands to hold or embrace something close to your body, which is why the character means to hug or hold in arms.

抱 8 strokes

Components

  • 扌 radical left
  • 包 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

  • 辛抱 しんぼう patience; endurance
  • 抱え かかえ armful
  • 抱負 ほうふ aspiration; ambition
  • 抱く いだく to hold in one's arms (e.g. a baby); to embrace
  • 抱擁 ほうよう embrace; hug
  • 抱える かかえる to hold in one's arms; to carry in one's arms
  • 抱っこ だっこ carrying in one's arms (a baby, pet, doll, etc.); holding
  • 抱き合う だきあう to embrace each other

Related kanji

Same sound component 包
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
64
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#871 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+062B1