Meaning & readings
settle (debt, etc.), relieve (burden), finish, come to an end, excusable, need not
Origin
This character combines water (the left component) with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The water element suggests something flowing or moving smoothly, which connects to the idea of a debt or problem being cleared away or resolved. When something is "settled" or "finished," it moves past you like water flowing — the burden is relieved and you can move forward. The right component gives a rough guide to how the character is pronounced in Chinese-derived readings, but does not itself contribute meaning to the character.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 氵
- 斉
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 85
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #168 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06E08