Meaning & readings
inverted, reverse, opposite, wicked
On’yomi ギャク、ゲキ
Kun’yomi さか、さか.さ、さか.らう
Origin
This character combines a walking radical, which classifies it as a character about movement, with a sound component that hints at its pronunciation. The "inverted" or "reverse" meaning comes from the idea of walking backwards or going against the normal direction of travel. Over time, this concrete sense of going the wrong way expanded to mean opposition, reversal, and wickedness—anything that goes against what is expected or proper. The sound component doesn't contribute to the meaning itself, but helps speakers remember how to pronounce the character.
Components
- 屰
- ⻌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 162
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #683 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+09006