Meaning & readings

bathe, be favored with, bask in

On’yomi ヨク
Kun’yomi あ.びる、あ.びせる
Nanori えき、さこ

Origin

This character combines water on the left with a sound hint on the right. The water component (called the liquid radical) shows this is about something wet or water-related. The right side, pronounced "tani," gives a rough sound hint for how the full character is pronounced—roughly "yoku" in Japanese. Together, the water indicator paired with this sound hint created a character meaning to bathe or soak in water, and by extension, to be showered with something desirable like favor or warmth.

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

10 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

  • 入浴 にゅうよく bathing; going in the bath
  • 浴室 よくしつ bathroom
  • 浴場 よくじょう bathhouse; (public) bath
  • 浴槽 よくそう bathtub
  • 浴衣 ゆかた yukata; light cotton kimono worn in the summer or used as a bathrobe
  • 海水浴 かいすいよく swimming in the ocean; sea bathing
  • 日光浴 にっこうよく sunbathing; basking in the sun
  • 浴びる あびる to dash over oneself (e.g. water); to take (e.g. shower)

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
85
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1136 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06D74