字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

contact, touch, feel, hit, proclaim, announce, conflict

On’yomi ショク
Kun’yomi ふ.れる、さわ.る、さわ

Origin

This character combines the radical for "horn" or "angle" on the left with the character for "insect" on the right, which serves as a sound hint rather than contributing to the meaning. The horn radical suggests something that sticks out or projects, which connects to the idea of making contact or touching something. When you touch something, your hand or body makes contact much like a horn or antenna reaching out, so the radical conveys the sense of physical contact or touching. The insect character is there mainly to hint at the pronunciation, not to add a meaning layer to the character.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

触 13 strokes

Components

  • 角 radical left
  • 虫 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 感触 かんしょく feel (of something); touch
  • 触る さわる to touch; to feel
  • 触覚 しょっかく sense of touch
  • 触媒 しょくばい catalyst
  • 触発 しょくはつ detonation by contact; contact detonation
  • 接触 せっしょく touch; contact
  • 抵触 ていしょく infringement (of a law, treaty, etc.); contravention
  • 触れる ふれる to touch; to feel

Related kanji

Same sound component 虫
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
148
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#904 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+089E6