字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

path, route, road, distance

On’yomi ロ、ル
Kun’yomi -じ、みち

Origin

The character 路 combines the idea of walking with a sound hint. The left side, 足, shows a foot or leg and indicates this character relates to movement on foot. The right side, 各, doesn't add meaning but tells you roughly how to pronounce the character—it's a sound hint left over from the character's Chinese origins. Together, the foot component and sound hint created a character meaning path or road, the thing you travel on with your feet.

路 13 strokes

Components

  • 足 radical left
  • 各 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

  • 回路 かいろ circuit
  • 海路 かいろ sea route
  • 街路 がいろ road; street
  • 活路 かつろ means of survival; means of escape
  • 岐路 きろ forked road; crossroads
  • 帰路 きろ return journey; one's way home
  • 空路 くうろ air route; air lane
  • 経路 けいろ course; route

Related kanji

Same sound component 各
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
157
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#529 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08DEF