Meaning & readings

Latin, kidnap, crush

On’yomi ラツ、ラ、ロウ
Kun’yomi らっ.する、ひし.ぐ、くだ.く

Origin

This character combines a hand radical on the left with the component for "stand" on the right. The "stand" element most likely serves as a sound hint here—it tells you roughly how to pronounce the character. The hand-plus-stand combination suggests the action of pulling or dragging with your hand, which naturally extends to meanings like kidnapping or crushing, since those actions involve forceful pulling or pressing motions. Over time, the shape came to carry these forceful, pulling-related meanings in Japanese.

拉 8 strokes

Components

  • 扌 radical left
  • 立 meaning part right

Common words

  • 拉致 らち taking captive; carrying away
  • 拉致問題 らちもんだい abduction issue (esp. of those Japanese abducted by North Korea)

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
64
Formation type
Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
—
Former JLPT
—
Unicode
U+062C9