Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home

囚: captured, criminal

Also: arrest, catch

JLPT N15 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

囗 carries the meaning · 人 is drawn in

5 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

シュウshuu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 囚人しゅうじんprisoner; convict
  • 死刑囚しけいしゅうcriminal condemned to death

とらわれるtorawareru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 囚われとらわれcaptivity; imprisonment

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine a sturdy wall encircling a city! This radical completely wraps around other elements, containing them safely within its borders like a fence or a country's frontier.”
More in the 囗 enclosure story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
囗

Also built on enclosure (囗)

All 11
人

Also built on person (人)

All 21

Also read シュウ

39 kanji share this on'yomiAll 39

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
囚 captured · 人
vs四 four · 儿
囚 has 人 where 四 has 儿.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · qiú

Same form: 囚 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
囚 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
囚 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin qiú most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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