Skip to content
Kotomora

籠

basket, devote oneself, seclude oneself, cage, coop, implied

StatusJōyō · secondary schoolStrokes22

Readings

On'yomi

  • ロウ
  • ル

Kun'yomi

  • かご
  • こ.める
  • こも.る
  • こ.む

Nanori

  • ごめ
  • もり

Meaning

籠 centers on an enclosing container: a basket, cage, or coop. The abstract senses of devoting or secluding oneself grow from the image of being enclosed or wrapped up in something.

Most common words using 籠

20 of 86
  • 籠もるこもる
    N2

    to shut oneself in (e.g. one's room); to be confined in; to seclude oneself; to hide away; to stay inside (one's shell)

  • 籠かご
    N3

    basket (shopping, etc.); hamper; cage

  • 魚籠びく

    fish basket; creel

  • 籠目かごめ

    woven-bamboo pattern

  • 印籠いんろう

    inro; seal case; pill box; medicine case

  • 葛籠つづら

    wicker clothes hamper

  • 灯籠とうろう

    garden lantern; hanging lantern

  • 籠手こて

    bracer (arm guard used in archery)

  • 旅籠はたご

    inn; tavern; hatago; Edo-period lodging for travellers

  • 揺り籠ゆりかご
    N1

    cradle

  • 尾籠びろう

    indecent; indelicate; dirty; vulgar; risqué

  • 籠城ろうじょう

    holding a castle (during a siege); holing up

  • ほい駕籠ほいかご

    crude palanquin; street palanquin

  • パン籠パンかご

    breadbasket

  • ファラデーの籠ファラデーのかご

    Faraday cage

  • 伏せ籠ふせご

    frame for drying or perfuming clothes (oft. made out of bamboo)

  • 切組灯籠絵きりくみとうろうえ

    paper diorama (made from a woodblock print)

  • 参籠さんろう

    retirement (to a temple of shrine) for prayer

  • 反古籠ほぐかご

    wastebasket

  • 取り籠もるとりこもる

    to seclude oneself; to shut oneself away

Explore all words using 籠 →

Study

Etymology

籠 combines 竹 (bamboo) with 龍, which likely contributes the sound. The character originally referred to a bamboo basket or cage.

Meaning mnemonic

The top 竹 is bamboo, and the bottom 龍 is a dragon. Picture a dragon trapped inside a bamboo cage: 籠 is a basket or cage made of bamboo.

Reading mnemonic

For ロウ, imagine a low bamboo cage that a dragon cannot escape: low -> ロウ, and the dragon is enclosed inside.