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Kotomora

卜

divining, fortune-telling, divination or katakana to radical (no. 25)

StatusJinmeiyōStrokes2

Readings

On'yomi

  • ボク

Kun'yomi

  • うらな.う
  • うらない

Nanori

  • うら

Meaning

卜 centers on seeking hidden knowledge through signs: divining, fortune-telling, or reading omens. The radical sense is the same shape used as a component in other characters.

Most common words using 卜

  • 卜うら

    fortune-telling; divination

  • 卜ぼく

    divining; telling a fortune; predicting

  • 亀卜きぼく

    tortoise-shell divination (in ancient China and Japan)

  • 卜するぼくする

    to tell (a person's) fortune; to divine

  • 卜人ぼくじん

    fortune teller; diviner

  • 卜伝流ぼくでんりゅう

    Shinto-ryu (school of kenjutsu)

  • 卜占ぼくせん

    fortune-telling; divination; augury

  • 卜定ぼくじょう

    deciding through (tortoise-shell) divination

  • 卜居ぼっきょ

    choosing a homesite by divination

  • 卜筮ぼくぜい

    fortunetelling; divination

  • 卜者ぼくしゃ

    fortune teller; soothsayer; diviner

  • 卜術ぼくじゅつ

    fortune-telling; divination

  • 卜骨ぼっこつ

    fortune-telling using animal bones

  • 占卜せんぼく

    divination; fortunetelling; soothsaying

  • 売卜ばいぼく

    fortunetelling (as an occupation)

Explore all words using 卜 →

Study

Etymology

卜 is a pictograph of a crack in a heated oracle bone, representing the practice of divination by interpreting such cracks.

Meaning mnemonic

The two strokes look like a crack on a heated bone or shell used for fortune-telling. Picture a diviner reading the crack to tell the future.

Reading mnemonic

For ボク, imagine a fortune-teller knocking on a wooden box to summon spirits: box -> ボク, and the crack on the bone reveals the answer.