Meaning & readings

tumor, swelling

On’yomi シュ、ショウ
Kun’yomi は.れる、は.れ、は.らす、はれもの

Origin

This character combines the body part classifier (which represents flesh or the body) on the left with (meaning heavy or weighty) on the right. The idea is that when swelling or a tumor develops, that part of the body becomes heavy and distended — visibly thicker and more substantial than normal. By pairing the flesh radical with the concept of heaviness, the character captures the physical sensation and appearance of a swollen or diseased area of the body.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

13 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • meaning part right

Common words

  • 腫瘍 しゅよう tumor; tumour
  • 腫れる はれる to swell (from inflammation); to become swollen
  • 浮腫 むくみ swelling; edema

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
130
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#2145 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
Unicode
U+0816B