Meaning & readings
chase, drive away, follow, pursue, meanwhile
Origin
The character 追 combines a foot radical on the left, which refers to movement or action involving the legs, with a sound component on the right that helps indicate how the character is pronounced. Together, these parts create a character whose meaning centers on the physical act of chasing or pursuing something—you move your feet rapidly to follow after someone or something. The foot radical naturally suits this meaning since chasing inherently involves running or walking after a target. Over time, the character's sense expanded to include related ideas like driving something away or following along.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 𠂤
- ⻌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 訴追 そつい prosecution; indictment
- 追う おう to chase; to run after
- 追加 ついか addition; supplement
- 追及 ついきゅう investigation (e.g. into someone's guilt); questioning
- 追求 ついきゅう pursuit (of a goal, ideal, etc.); search
- 追究 ついきゅう thorough investigation; close inquiry
- 追撃 ついげき pursuit (of a fleeing enemy); chase
- 追伸 ついしん postscript; post scriptum
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 162
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #411 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+08FFD