39

Abstain


Radical Combination


Meaning

Abstain

Mnemonic

Raise your fingers to the sky to symbolize that you abstain from something. If someone offers you fur coats, raise your fingers to abstain. If someone tries to get you to bully someone, raise your fingers to abstain.

Abstaining from doing what other people are doing is important sometimes. So make sure you never forget the universal abstaining symbol.


Reading

On'yomi

こう

Kun'yomi

ひか

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

This symbol to abstain comes from the hicatee (ひか) turtle. The hicatee is a Central American river turtle hunted for its meat, eggs, and shell. Therefore, the poor hicatee are endangered. So people started to rally around them, abstaining from hurting them anymore. They raised their fingers to the sky and shouted, "I abstain from harming these hicatee!"

Picture yourself in Central America. Standing in the water, blocking poachers from the hicatee turtles. "Abstain!" you shout at them.


Visually Similar Kanji


Found In Vocabulary