Meaning & readings

abet, help, save

On’yomi エン

Origin

The left component shows a hand, indicating this character is about manual action or support. The right component is a sound hint that tells you roughly how to pronounce the character (えん), without adding to the meaning itself. Together, the hand radical combined with this sound element creates a character meaning "to help" or "to support" — the idea of one person reaching out a hand to aid another.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

12 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 援軍 えんぐん reinforcement
  • 援助 えんじょ assistance; aid
  • 応援 おうえん aid; assistance
  • 救援 きゅうえん relief; rescue
  • 後援 こうえん support; backing
  • 支援 しえん support; backing
  • 声援 せいえん (shout of) encouragement; cheering
  • 援護 えんご support; help

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
64
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#312 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+063F4