Meaning & readings

entwine, coil around, get caught in

On’yomi ラク
Kun’yomi から.む、から.まる

Origin

The character combines the radical for thread or silk (the left part, which appears as a thin vertical line with small branches) with a sound hint on the right that tells you how to pronounce it. Since the core meaning is about things becoming tangled or wound together, the thread radical makes sense—threads are what naturally entwine and coil around each other. The right component gives you the approximate pronunciation but doesn't contribute to the meaning. Together, thread plus the sound indicator creates the idea of threads twisting and catching around something.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

12 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 短絡 たんらく short circuit; short
  • 脈絡 みゃくらく logical connection; chain of reasoning
  • 絡む からむ to twine; to get tangled
  • 連絡 れんらく contacting; (making) contact
  • 絡み からみ linkage; entanglement
  • ご連絡 ごれんらく contacting; getting in touch
  • 連絡先 れんらくさき contact information (address, phone number, etc.)
  • 絡み合う からみあう to intertwine; to become entangled

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
120
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#806 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+07D61