Meaning & readings

take along, lead, join, connect, party, gang, clique

On’yomi レン
Kun’yomi つら.なる、つら.ねる、つ.れる、-づ.れ
Nanori ずれ、つれ、むらじ、れ

Origin

This character combines a vehicle (, the left component) with a walking radical (⻌, the right side) to show people or things moving together in a line. The image of carts or travelers following one after another along a path led to the meaning of connecting or joining together. Over time, the character expanded to mean leading people, being joined as a group or party, and the general sense of things being linked in sequence. The compound makes visual sense: multiple moving elements in connection represents the idea of joining and continuity.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

10 strokes

Components

  • meaning part nyoc
  • radical bottom-left wrap

Common words

  • ソ連 ソれん Soviet Union; USSR
  • 一連 いちれん series; chain
  • 関連 かんれん relation; connection
  • 国連 こくれん United Nations; UN
  • 常連 じょうれん regular customer; regular patron
  • 連れ つれ companion; company
  • 連休 れんきゅう consecutive holidays
  • 連係 れんけい connection; linking

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
162
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#30 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+09023