音読み: シ
訓読み: うかがう
画数: 7
部首: にんべん（亻）
Meaning
Inquire / ask politely / visit.
- 伺う — to inquire; ask politely; to visit
- お伺い — inquiry; question; visit (polite)
- 伺い書 — written inquiry/request
- 伺いを立てる — to seek approval/permission
- 伺候 — to attend upon (archaic/literary)
The left-side radical にんべん (亻) signals a person. The right-side element comes from 司, “to manage or take charge,” and acts as the phonetic. Together they suggest a person carefully reporting or asking someone in authority — hence the polite sense “to inquire / to ask.”
Link the person radical with し from 司. Picture a person politely reporting to someone in charge. That image helps you remember うかがう — “to inquire” or “to ask politely.”
Used together in:
伺いを立てる — to ask for approval/permission.