抱

音読おんよみ: ホウ

訓読くんよみ: だく・いだく・かかえる

画数かくすう: 8

部首ぶしゅ: 扌（てへん, “hand” radical）

Meaning

Embrace / Hug / Hold

Conjugation
Tap for 抱く (hold; embrace) Tap for 抱える (carry)
  • 抱だく — to hold (a baby); to hug
  • 抱いだく — to embrace (physically or emotionally); to harbor (feelings, hopes)
  • 抱かかえる — to carry in one’s arms / to hold under the arm / to be burdened with
  • 抱負ほうふ — aspirations / personal ambition
  • 抱ほう擁よう — embrace; hug (formal / news-y)

抱 is physical and emotional at the same time. You can 抱く a child (literally hold), but you can also 夢を抱く — “hold a dream,” meaning to cherish an ambition or hope. 抱える leans practical: “to carry,” “to be stuck with,” “to be burdened with” (like debt, stress, problems).

Because of that nuance, 抱 shows up in both warm phrases (hugging, protecting, caring) and heavy phrases (carrying worries). Same core image: arms around something.

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