Meaning & readings
aim at, sight, shadow, stalk
On’yomi ソ、ショ
Kun’yomi ねら.う、ねら.い
Origin
The character combines the animal radical on the left, which marks this as a word about creatures, with a component meaning "moreover" or "additionally" on the right. Together, these parts evoke the idea of an animal that moves deliberately and persistently—one that follows and watches its target. This compounds into the sense of stalking or aiming at something, since both involve focused, sustained attention toward a goal. The meanings of "aim" and "stalk" grew naturally from this image of an animal's purposeful, watchful behavior.
Components
- ⺨
- 且
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 94
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #745 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- —
- Unicode
- U+072D9