Origin

This character combines rice (米), shown on the left, with a sound component on the right that hints at the pronunciation "nen." The rice radical makes sense because rice paste and cooked rice are famously sticky and glutinous — they stick together and to your fingers. Over time, the meaning expanded from the physical stickiness of rice products to the figurative sense of persevering or sticking with something, since both involve things clinging or adhering.

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