encouragement; pep talk; letter of encouragement
Colloquial modern use: words or a message meant to encourage or motivate someone, often in sports, work, or personal challenges. Frequently appears in phrases like 檄を飛ばす (to give a pep talk).
The coach gave the players a pep talk.
I received a letter of encouragement from a friend before the exam.
Standard kanji spelling; used in both historical and modern senses.
Kana spelling is common in informal writing, especially for the colloquial encouragement sense.
Originally from Chinese, where it referred to an official written summons or proclamation. In Japanese, it retained the historical meaning of a written appeal and later developed a colloquial sense of encouragement or motivational message.