字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

split, rend, tear

On’yomi レツ
Kun’yomi さ.く、さ.ける、-ぎ.れ

Origin

The character 裂 combines two parts: the top component 列 provides a sound hint for how to pronounce the character (roughly "retsu"), while the bottom component 衣, which means clothing or cloth, tells you the meaning category. Because cloth and fabric naturally tear and split when pulled apart, pairing the idea of cloth with a sound hint created a character meaning to split or rend. This combination of a sound-bearing element with a meaning-related classifier is a common way Chinese and Japanese characters were formed.

裂 12 strokes

Components

  • 列 sound hint top
  • 衣 radical bottom

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

Common words

  • 裂く さく to tear; to rip up
  • 亀裂 きれつ crack; crevice
  • 決裂 けつれつ breakdown (of talks, negotiations, etc.); breaking off
  • 破裂 はれつ bursting; rupture
  • 分裂 ぶんれつ split; division
  • 炸裂 さくれつ violent explosion; bursting
  • 核分裂 かくぶんれつ nuclear fission
  • 裂ける さける to split; to tear

Related kanji

Same sound component 列
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
145
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1041 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+088C2