Meaning & readings
lively, resuscitation, being helped, living
Origin
Water on the left pairs with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The water component connects to the idea of flowing, moving, and the vital force of life itself—water being necessary for living things to survive. Together, the character pictures something fluid and active, capturing the sense of being lively, alive, and full of movement. Over time, this visual association between water's essential, flowing nature and the concept of being alive gave the character its meanings related to living, resuscitation, and vitality.
Components
- 氵
- 舌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 85
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #171 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06D3B