揆
category, plan, drumstick
Readings
On'yomi
- キ
Kun'yomi
- はかりごと
- はか.る
Meaning
揆 centers on measuring and sorting things into categories, which extends to planning or scheming. The drumstick sense is a rare, specific object that fits the idea of a hand-held tool for measuring or striking.
Most common words using 揆
- 一揆いっき
uprising (esp. in Japan since middle ages, e.g. peasant uprising); revolt; insurrection; putsch; riot
- ミュンヘン一揆ミュンヘンいっき
Beer Hall Putsch (1923); Munich Putsch
- 一向一揆いっこういっき
Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist uprising (Muromachi and Warring States periods)
- 国一揆くにいっき
province-wide uprising (Muromachi period)
- 土一揆つちいっき
peasant uprising (Muromachi period)
- 徳政一揆とくせいいっき
uprising demanding debt cancellation orders (Muromachi period)
- 揆き
way; method
- 百姓一揆ひゃくしょういっき
peasant uprising (Edo period); peasants' revolt
- 農民一揆のうみんいっき
agrarian revolt; agrarian uprising
Study
Etymology
揆 combines 扌 (hand) with 癸, which likely contributes the sound and the idea of measuring or estimating. The exact historical development of 癸 is uncertain, but it is associated with the last of the ten celestial stems and may have originally depicted a measuring tool.
Meaning mnemonic
The hand 扌 holds a measuring tool 癸, like a ruler or a drumstick, to sort things into categories or plan a rhythm.
Reading mnemonic
For キ, imagine using a key to unlock a plan: key -> キ, and your hand 扌 turns the key to measure out the perfect scheme.