漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
窃: stealth, steal
Also: secret, private, hushed
穴 carries the meaning · 切 gives the sound
One reading, and the words that use it
セツsetsu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 窃盗せっとう
- 窃取せっしゅtheft; stealing; larceny
- 窃視せっしpeeping at (without permission)
Also read ぬすむ, ひそか, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)米 rice + 攴 action + 禼 (sound)
In the Warring States period, the character existed in the forms 𢿑 and 𱡡; the latter of which is likely the ancestor of the modern form, a Phono-semantic compound (形聲): 米 (“rice”) + 攴 (“action”) + phonetic 禼 – theft.
Source: Wiktionary, 竊 (rev. 90638361), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Hole radical + cut (切) = a thief cutting their way through a hole in the wall to sneak inside.”
Connections
Also read セツ
11 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 竊 · qiè
Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 窃. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 竊.
- Simplified
- 窃 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 竊 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin qiè most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.