隠

音読おんよみ: イン

訓読くんよみ: かくす・かくれる

画数かくすう: 14

部首ぶしゅ: こざとへん（阝）

Meaning

Hide / Conceal / Cover / Secrete

  • 隠かくす — to hide; to conceal
  • 隠かくれる — to hide oneself; to be concealed
  • 隠居いんきょ — retirement; retired person
  • 隠密おんみつ — secret; undercover; covert
  • 隠語いんご — jargon; secret language
  • 隠者いんじゃ — hermit; recluse

The radical 阝 (こざとへん) often marks geographical features like hills or mounds — places where something can be hidden. Combined with the phonetic part 音, it creates the meaning of “conceal” or “hide.” This sense extends from physical hiding to abstract secrecy.

密

Link 隠 with 密 (secret). Together in 隠密おんみつ, they form the idea of something hidden and kept secret — think of spies or undercover agents or even 忍者にんじゃ.

居
Retirement

隠居いんきょ — to retire; a retired person. Literally “to hide away and reside.”

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