Meaning & readings
patrol, go around, circumference
Origin
This character most likely combines two water-related components to express the idea of circulation. The parts suggest flowing water or a stream, and when you put them together, they create an image of water moving around and through a space. This visual of flowing, circulating water naturally extended to the broader meaning of going around or patrolling — anything that moves in a circuit or repeating path. Over time, the character came to describe the act of moving around an area repeatedly or checking boundaries, which is what patrol and circumference mean.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 巛
- ⻌
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 47
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1262 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+05DE1