Meaning & readings
shouldering, carry, raise, bear
Origin
This character combines a hand radical on the left, showing the physical action of carrying something, with the component 旦 on the right, which serves as a sound hint for how the character is pronounced. The hand radical makes clear that the word involves manual labor or physical support, while 旦 contributes the "tan" sound. Together they create a character that describes the act of shouldering a burden or carrying weight — literally something you do with your hands and body.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 扌
- 旦
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 担ぐ かつぐ to shoulder; to carry on one's shoulder
- 担架 たんか stretcher; litter
- 担当 たんとう being in charge (of an area of responsibility); being responsible (for a work role, etc.)
- 担任 たんにん being in charge of (esp. a class or subject); taking charge of
- 担保 たんぽ security; guarantee
- 負担 ふたん burden; load
- 分担 ぶんたん taking on one's share (e.g. of work); dividing (work, expenses, etc.) between
- 加担 かたん support; participation
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 64
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #422 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+062C5