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Kotomora

搴

take, hoist, pull out, shrink

Strokes14

Readings

On'yomi

  • ケン

Kun'yomi

  • と.る
  • ぬ.く

Meaning

搴 centers on pulling something upward or outward with force: taking, hoisting, or extracting. The shrink sense is a less common extension, possibly from pulling something tight or drawing it in.

Study

Etymology

搴 combines 手 (hand) with a phonetic element that likely contributed the sound ケン. The character expresses pulling or extracting by hand.

Meaning mnemonic

The hand 手 at the bottom is pulling something out from under a roof-like cover 宀. Imagine hoisting a heavy object from a container.

Reading mnemonic

For ケン, picture a strong man named Ken hoisting a heavy load with his bare hands: Ken -> ケン, and he pulls it out with effort.