Meaning & readings
detain, fasten, halt, stop
On’yomi リュウ、ル
Kun’yomi と.める、と.まる、とど.める、とど.まる、るうぶる
Nanori とめ
Origin
This character combines a time marker (卯, which refers to the dawn hours in the traditional Chinese zodiac system) with a field (田). The pairing suggests something fixed or anchored at a particular place or moment — the idea of halting motion or keeping something in place. Over time, the specific zodiac meaning faded, leaving only the sense of "detain" or "stop" that remains today. The visual structure of a marker sitting above a bounded space reinforces the notion of something being held or fastened in position.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 卯
- 田
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 102
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #731 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07559