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Kotomora

漸

steadily, gradually advancing, finally, barely

JLPTN1StatusJōyō · secondary schoolFrequencyTop 5,000Strokes14

Readings

On'yomi

  • ゼン

Kun'yomi

  • ようや.く
  • やや
  • ようよ.う
  • すす.む

Meaning

漸 centers on slow, incremental progress: moving forward steadily, step by step, until finally reaching a point, even if only barely.

Most common words using 漸

20 of 23
  • 漸ぜん

    gradual progress

  • 漸減ぜんげん

    gradual decrease; decline

  • 漸進ぜんしん

    gradual progress; steady advance

  • 漸次ぜんじ

    gradually; slowly; little by little; incrementally

  • 東漸とうぜん

    eastward advance

  • 漸化式ぜんかしき

    recurrence relation; recurrence formula

  • 漸増ぜんぞう

    gradual increase

  • 漸層法ぜんそうほう

    climax (rhetoric); gradation

  • 漸悟ぜんご

    gradual enlightenment

  • 漸新世ぜんしんせい

    Oligocene epoch

  • 漸次的ぜんじてき

    gradual; slow

  • 漸深海帯ぜんしんかいたい

    bathyal zone; midnight zone; bathypelagic

  • 漸漸ぜんぜん

    gradually; by degrees

  • 漸落ぜんらく

    gradual decline

  • 漸落市況ぜんらくしきょう

    sagging market

  • 漸近ぜんきん

    asymptote

  • 漸近的自由ぜんきんてきじゆう

    asymptotic freedom

  • 漸近線ぜんきんせん

    asymptotic line

  • 漸進主義ぜんしんしゅぎ

    gradualism; slow-and-steady policy

  • 漸進的ぜんしんてき

    gradual

Explore all words using 漸 →

Study

Etymology

漸 combines 氵 (water) with 斬, which likely contributes the sound. The water radical suggests gradual soaking or erosion, fitting the idea of slow, steady advance.

Meaning mnemonic

Water 氵 slowly cuts through even the hardest material, like a river carving a canyon. The right side 斬 (cut) reinforces the image of gradual, persistent progress.

Reading mnemonic

For ゼン, picture a Zen monk patiently meditating as water drips steadily on a stone: Zen -> ゼン, and the water gradually wears the stone away.