刺

音読おんよみ: シ

訓読くんよみ: さす・ささる

画数かくすう: 8

部首ぶしゅ: りっとう（刂）

Meaning

Stab / thorn / pierce / prick.

  • 刺さす — to stab; to pierce; to prick
  • 刺ささる — to get stuck; to be pierced
  • 刺身さしみ — sliced raw fish
  • 名刺めいし — business card
  • 刺激しげき — stimulus; provocation
  • 風刺ふうし — satire; irony

The kanji combines the sword radical 刂 with a phonetic element that suggests sharpness. The overall image is of a pointed weapon — something meant to pierce or stab. This gives the core meanings of “thorn,” “prick,” and “stab.”

切

Think of 切 (to cut) — a general slicing action. Now compare with 刺, where the knife radical shifts the image from cutting broadly to piercing straight in like a stab. Different radicals, but both carry the edge of the blade — one wide, one pointed.

激
Creates

刺激しげき — stimulus; provocation; something that pierces the senses.

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