漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
放: set free, release
Also: fire, shoot, emit, banish, liberate
攵 carries the meaning · 方 gives the sound
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Four readings, and the words that use each
ホウhou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 放送するほうそうするbroadcast
- 放置するほうちするleave as is
- 放火するほうかするset fire to
- 開放するかいほうするthrow open, make public
- 解放するかいほうするrelease
- 追放するついほうするexile, expel
- 放課後ほうかごafter school
はなすhanasu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 放すはなすseparate [v.t.]
はなつhanatsu · kun'yomi
- 放つはなつset free
はなれるhanareru · kun'yomi
- 放れるはなれるleave [v.i.]
Also read -っぱなし, こく, ほうる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)方 (sound) + 攴 hand, action, as 攵 (meaning)
An action, release.
Source: Wiktionary, 放 (rev. 92748306), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Direction (方) + strike (攵). Imagine striking an object in a specific "direction" to let it go or launch it into the world.”
Connections
放 takes the 方 family's reading, ボウ (bou).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · fàng
Same form: 放 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 放 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 放 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin fàng most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.