Meaning & readings
look to, face, meet, confront, attend, call on
On’yomi リン
Kun’yomi のぞ.む
Nanori み
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of a person observing from a high vantage point. The left side contains a component related to the body or person, while the right side suggests elevation or overlooking. The character's meaning of "to look at" or "to face" comes from this sense of standing above and gazing down upon something, as when you look out over a landscape from a high place. Over time, this visual concept expanded to include related meanings like "to confront" or "to attend to" — situations where you are present and facing something directly.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (臨).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 18
- Kangxi radical
- 131
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #722 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+081E8