Meaning & readings

tenacious, take hold, grasp, take to heart

On’yomi シツ、シュウ
Kun’yomi と.る
Nanori

Origin

This character combines two idea-pictures to show the concept of grasping something firmly. The left part, , originally depicted a wooden yoke or restraint—something that holds or binds. The right part, , shows something round or complete. Together, these parts suggest the act of taking hold of something and keeping it—grasping it so firmly that you hold on tenaciously. Over time, the character came to mean "to grasp" and "to be tenacious or stubborn about holding onto something."

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

11 strokes

Components

  • meaning part left
  • meaning part right

Common words

  • 確執 かくしつ discord; antagonism
  • 執行 しっこう execution; carrying out
  • 執念 しゅうねん tenacity; persistence
  • 執筆 しっぴつ writing; authoring
  • 執務 しつむ performance of one's official duties
  • 固執 こしつ sticking to (an opinion, theory, belief, etc.); clinging to
  • 執着 しゅうちゃく attachment; adhesion
  • 執る とる to take (trouble); to attend (to business)

Reference

Strokes
11
Kangxi radical
32
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#800 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+057F7