Kanji 撲: slap, strike, hit, beat, tell, speak

Key takeaways

Kanji 撲: slap, strike, hit, beat, tell, speak. Readings and core meaning.

See vocabulary and examples below.

Kanji at a glance

撲

Meaning

slapstrikehitbeattellspeak

On reading

ぼく

Radical

手

Core meaning / core image

Core meaning: 撲

slap, strike, hit, beat, tell, speak

Kanji structure breakdown

撲

Structure breakdown

扌 + 菐

Mnemonic story

Imagine using your hand (扌) to strike down something troublesome (菐). This character is used in words like 'daboku' (bruise) or 'bokumetsu' (extermination) to describe hitting or striking something forcefully.

On'yomi and kun'yomi

Example sentences

Example 1

相撲をテレビで見ました。

Translation

I watched sumo on TV.

Example 2

彼は相撲の選手です。