Meaning & readings

exhausted, tire, weary

On’yomi ヒ
Kun’yomi つか.れる、-づか.れ、つか.らす

Origin

The character combines a sickness radical on the left, which signals that this word relates to illness or physical states, with the component meaning skin on the right, which serves as a sound hint for the character's pronunciation. The skin component doesn't refer to actual skin but rather provides a rough phonetic guide. Together, the combination evokes the feeling of physical exhaustion—when your body and skin feel worn down and depleted, you become tired and weary. This connection between the sickness classifier and the sound component created a character that captures the sense of being drained or fatigued.

疲 10 strokes

Components

  • 疒 radical top-left wrap
  • 皮 sound hint position.tarec

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 疲れ つかれ tiredness; fatigue
  • 疲弊 ひへい exhaustion; fatigue
  • 疲労 ひろう fatigue; weariness
  • 疲れる つかれる to get tired; to tire
  • お疲れ様 おつかれさま thank you (for your hard work); good work
  • 疲れ果てる つかれはてる to get tired out; to be exhausted

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
104
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1263 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+075B2