字の旅3,000 years in four forms
Oracle bone · ShangShang · c. 1200 BCE前3.7.5, 合38034
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
部首Radical · in States & Attributes
辛 spicy, bitter, hot, painful
からい karai
7 strokesRadical of 3 kanjiPart of 4
Origin · sourced
Pictogram象形
Pictogram (象形) Older oracle bone forms of 辛 (⿱∇木) depict newly grown tree shoots, acting as the original ideogram for 新 and 薪. In 新, the top of the axe component (斤) aligns with the bottom of ∇, signifying the chopping of wood.
Source: Wiktionary, 辛 (rev. 92690502), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Watch out for the sting! This radical carries the intense heat of a chili pepper and the sharp, stinging "bitterness" of a hard trial. When you see it, think of aggressive flavors, the "hot" exhaustion of labor, and the incredible resilience needed to get through the most painful moments of life. It brings a sense of sharp intensity, deep suffering, and the grit of a survivor to its characters.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates a spicy or bitter flavor, physical or emotional pain, hard labor, difficult situations, or the tools used for "stinging" and marking.
Every kanji with 辛 as its radical
All 3 kanji