Meaning & readings
bring up, grow up, raise, rear
On’yomi イク
Kun’yomi そだ.つ、そだ.ち、そだ.てる、はぐく.む
Nanori やす
Origin
This character appears to be a picture of a child or newborn in the womb, shown with a rounded body and limbs. The enclosed, sheltered form suggests nurturing and protection—ideas central to raising and caring for a young person. Over time, the pictographic shape came to represent the broader concepts of growth, development, and the act of bringing up children. The character's enclosed, organic structure naturally matched the meaning of nurturing life from birth through childhood.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (育).
Common words
- 育ち そだち growth; breeding
- 育つ そだつ to be raised (e.g. child); to be brought up
- 育英 いくえい education of gifted young people; providing financial support to gifted students
- 育児 いくじ childcare; child-rearing
- 教育 きょういく education; schooling
- 飼育 しいく breeding; raising
- 生育 せいいく birth and growth; giving birth and raising
- 体育 たいいく physical education; PE
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 130
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #369 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+080B2