Meaning & readings

evade, avoid, avert, ward off, shirk, shun

On’yomi
Kun’yomi さ.ける、よ.ける

Origin

This character combines a left-side component meaning "to go" or "movement" with a right-side sound hint. The sound component "辟" tells you roughly how to pronounce the character — it doesn't contribute the meaning. Together, the left side suggests the action of moving or going, while the overall character developed the meaning of moving away from or evading something. Think of it as the idea of moving oneself out of the way to avoid something.

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

16 strokes

Components

  • sound hint nyoc
  • radical bottom-left wrap

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 回避 かいひ evasion; avoidance
  • 忌避 きひ evasion; avoidance
  • 退避 たいひ taking refuge; evacuation
  • 逃避 とうひ escape; evasion
  • 避暑 ひしょ escaping the summer heat; going somewhere cooler during the summer
  • 避難 ひなん taking refuge; finding shelter
  • 避妊 ひにん contraception; birth control
  • 不可避 ふかひ inevitable; inescapable

Reference

Strokes
16
Kangxi radical
162
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#756 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+0907F