隷

音読おんよみ: レイ

訓読くんよみ: しもべ

画数かくすう: 16

部首ぶしゅ: れいづくり(隶)

Meaning

Slave / Servant / Subordinate

  • 奴隷どれい — slave; enslaved person
  • 隷属れいぞく — subjugation; subordination
  • 隷従れいじゅう — subservience; forced obedience
  • 隷書れいしょ — clerical script (ancient writing style)

The right-side radical れい carries the sense of being bound or assigned to serve. Combined with the left structure, 隷 expresses a state of being under someone’s control — the core idea behind servant, subordinate, or slave.

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