Meaning & readings
suitable, occasional, rare, qualified, capable
Origin
This character combines a left-hand component meaning "target" or "mark" with a sound hint on the right. The "target" concept evolved to mean "hitting the mark" or "being suitable for a purpose" — something that fits well is like an arrow hitting its target. The right component 啇 provides a pronunciation hint rather than adding meaning. Over time, the character came to express the broader idea of being appropriate, qualified, or fitting for something, which naturally extended to occasional or rare uses as well.
Components
- 啇
- ⻌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 14
- Kangxi radical
- 162
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #670 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+09069