Meaning & readings

lively, resuscitation, being helped, living

On’yomi カツ
Kun’yomi い.きる、い.かす、い.ける

Origin

Water on the left pairs with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The water component connects to the idea of flowing, moving, and the vital force of life itself—water being necessary for living things to survive. Together, the character pictures something fluid and active, capturing the sense of being lively, alive, and full of movement. Over time, this visual association between water's essential, flowing nature and the concept of being alive gave the character its meanings related to living, resuscitation, and vitality.

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

9 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

  • 快活 かいかつ cheerful; lively
  • 活気 かっき energy; vigour
  • 活況 かっきょう activity; briskness
  • 活字 かつじ (piece of) type; movable type
  • 活性 かっせい activity
  • 活動 かつどう activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action
  • 活発 かっぱつ lively; active
  • 活躍 かつやく activity (esp. energetic or successful); great efforts

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
85
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#171 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06D3B