Meaning & readings
doctor, medicine
On’yomi イ
Kun’yomi い.やす、い.する、くすし
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of an arrow or projectile with an enclosing frame. In ancient times, arrows were used in rituals and divination to drive out illness and evil spirits, so an arrow became associated with healing and treatment. The frame around the arrow may represent containment or a bounded space where this healing takes place. Over time, the visual symbol of an arrow enclosed in a frame came to represent the broader concept of medicine and doctors who heal using their skill and knowledge.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 匸
- 矢
- 匸
Common words
- 医院 いいん doctor's office; doctor's surgery
- 医科 いか medical science; medical department
- 医学 いがく medicine; medical science
- 医局 いきょく medical office (esp. in a hospital); doctor's office
- 医師 いし doctor; physician
- 医者 いしゃ doctor; physician
- 医大 いだい medical university; medical college
- 医長 いちょう medical director; chief physician
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 23
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #437 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+0533B