Meaning & readings
-proof, enduring
On’yomi タイ
Kun’yomi た.える
Nanori たえ
Origin
The character 耐 combines two parts. On the left, 而 is a sound hint that helps indicate how to pronounce the character (roughly "ji" or "ri" in older Chinese). On the right, 寸 represents a small unit of measurement or something small and precise. Together, these parts came to mean something that can withstand or endure — the idea is that something small and measured can persist against pressure or stress. Over time, this extended to mean "proof against" or "resistant to," as in water-proof or heat-proof.
Components
- 而
- 寸
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 126
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1295 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+08010