字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

trust, request

On’yomi ライ
Kun’yomi たの.む、たの.もしい、たよ.る
Nanori よち、より

Origin

The character 頼 combines two parts to express trust and reliance. On the right is 頁, the radical for "head" or "face," which suggests this character relates to the mind or mental faculties. On the left, 束 serves as a sound hint, indicating roughly how the character should be pronounced in Chinese. Together, the visual pairing of a head-related radical with a sound component created a character meaning to rely on someone mentally—to trust them with your thoughts and concerns.

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

頼 16 strokes

Components

  • 束 sound hint left
  • 頁 radical right

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

Common words

  • 依頼 いらい request; commission
  • 信頼 しんらい trust (in); confidence
  • 頼む たのむ to request; to beg
  • 頼り たより reliance; dependence
  • 頼る たよる to rely on; to depend on
  • 頼み たのみ request; favor
  • 信頼性 しんらいせい credibility; authenticity
  • 頼もしい たのもしい reliable; dependable

Related kanji

Same sound component 束
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
16
Kangxi radical
181
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#708 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+0983C