詒
deceive, cheat, give, leave behind
Strokes12
Readings
On'yomi
- イ
- タイ
Kun'yomi
- あざむ.く
Meaning
詒 centers on dishonest communication: deceiving or cheating through words. The meanings 'give' and 'leave behind' are less common and may be separate senses; the main idea is verbal trickery.
Study
Etymology
詒 combines 言 (speech) with 台, which likely contributes the sound. The exact historical development is uncertain, but the structure suggests a phono-semantic compound related to deceptive speech.
Meaning mnemonic
Words (言) from a platform (台) can be used to deceive. Imagine a speaker on a stage telling lies to cheat the audience.
Reading mnemonic
For イ, picture an eel (イ) slithering out of a lying mouth: the slippery eel represents the deceitful words, and 'eel' cues イ.