Meaning & readings
research, study
On’yomi キュウ、ク
Kun’yomi きわ.める
Nanori きゅ
Origin
This character shows a cave or hole at the top, with the component nine below it acting as a sound hint for pronunciation. The cave radical appears because early research and investigation involved examining things deeply, as if probing into a cave or hidden space. The nine component tells you roughly how to pronounce the character, not what it means. Over time, the idea of probing deeply into a cave transformed into the broader meaning of investigating and studying any subject thoroughly.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Common words
- 学究 がっきゅう scholar; student
- 究極 きゅうきょく ultimate; final
- 究明 きゅうめい investigation (esp. in academic and scientific contexts); finding out the facts
- 研究 けんきゅう research; study
- 探究 たんきゅう research; investigation
- 追究 ついきゅう thorough investigation; close inquiry
- 研究員 けんきゅういん researcher; lab worker
- 研究室 けんきゅうしつ laboratory
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 116
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #368 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+07A76