Meaning & readings
stab, protruding, thrust, pierce, prick, collision, sudden
On’yomi トツ、カ
Kun’yomi つ.く
Origin
The character 突 combines the idea of a hole or cave (穴, shown at the top) with something large or expansive (大, at the bottom). The visual suggests something pushing outward or bursting through an opening, like when something protrudes or pierces through. Over time, this image of forceful penetration or emergence became associated with meanings like stabbing, thrusting, and collision. The compound captures how a sudden, forceful action breaks through a barrier.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 116
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #521 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07A81