Lesson 16 of 28
Kanji Unit 16 — the road, and getting along it
about 9 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Recognise 辶 wrapping the bottom-left of a character and expect movement.
- Name the three places a radical can sit that you have now met.
Words this lesson teaches
- 近
- near, close by
- 送
- send, see off
- 通
- pass through; commute
- 運
- transport; luck — 運転, 運がいい
- 道
- a road, a way
- 転
- turn, roll over — 自転車, 運転
- 走
- run
- 起
- get up, rise
- 重
- heavy; to pile up
What it explains
Three positions, so far
亻 and 氵 stand on the left. 心 lies underneath. 辶 wraps the bottom-left corner. There are a few more — a lid across the top, an enclosure all the way round — but those three cover most of what you will meet, and knowing that a radical has a position is more useful than knowing any particular radical. It tells you where to look first in a character you cannot read.
運 does two jobs
運 is to transport — 運ぶ, to carry, and 運転 is driving, literally transport-turning. It is also luck: 運がいい means fortunate. Both come from the same idea of things being carried along, which is a good example of how a character's meanings sit together. When a character seems to mean two unrelated things, there is usually one older thing underneath both.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.