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1278
傑
KETSU, sugureru
outstanding
L1
13 strokes
KESSAKUmasterpiece
KESSHUTSUsuruexcel
KETSUJINoutstandingperson
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 41
‘person’, and CO (‘raised rack [to attach
bound criminals to for display]’) as phonetic
1279
L2
肩
KEN, kata
shoulder
8 strokes
HIKENrank alongside
katagakititle, degree
katakakeshawl
with associated sense ‘get out of, emerge’,
giving ‘person who is high above/surpasses
others’. Note: comprises 336 (orig, feet
pointing both ways), with 73 ‘wood’, tree’,
here denoting a platform or rack. KJ1970:366;
MS1995:v1:664-6; OT1968:78,836. Take as
46 ‘evening’ and variant ‘well’ 1575.
Mnemonic: OUTSTANDING PERSON BUILDS
ODD WOODEN WELL IN EVENING
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 209
‘flesh, body’, and , not 120 ‘door’ here
but regularization of similar element in the
seal form depicting the shoulder (or shoulder
joint) and upper arm. KJ1970:372; OT1968:816;
SS1984:255. Mnemonically, take as ‘door’.
Mnemonic: USE FLESHY SHOULDER AGAINST DOOR
1280
倹
KEN
thrifty, frugal
L1
10 strokes
KEN’YAKUfrugality
SEKKENfrugality
KINKENthrift
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. Has 41 ‘person’, and CO 僉 (‘bring
together those who disagree’) as phonetic
with associated sense ‘draw tight, be frugal’
(Ogawa, Katō), thus ‘frugal person’. Note: in
one view (Gu), 僉 consists of 亼 ‘lid; join’,
1281
兼
KEN, -kaneru
combine, cannot do
L1
10 strokes
KENGYŌside business
KEN’YŌdual purpose
shikanerucannot do
Bronze ; seal ; traditional . Bronze and
seal forms show hand holding two grain stalks,
giving extended sense ‘put together, combine’.
Use of in the sense ‘unable (to do)’ represents
Japanese-only usage. Origins of this usage
go back to use of to represent a Japanese
with CO ‘contest a lawsuit; disagree’; Katō
differs somewhat regarding identification of
the latter element, but still agrees broadly
on meaning. itself is made up of CO
‘disagree’, with CO ‘follow’ etc. here taken
literally as ‘two people’. The modern form has
a commonly seen abbreviated right-hand
shape. KJ1970:375; OT1968:69; TA1965:1846;
GY2008:462,260. Take 㑒 as 亼 cover, and
‘center’ 254.
Mnemonic: FRUGAL MAN COVERS ONLY
CENTRAL THINGS
verb meaning ‘combine’ (Old Japanese kanu).
Once the graph was established as a way
of writing kanu ‘combine’, it was borrowed as
a convenient way of writing the separate but
homophonous verbal suffix ‘-kanu’ meaning
‘cannot bear doing’, and later ‘refrain from doing,
unable to do’. Due to changes over time,
-kanu ‘cannot do’ became kaneru, as in the
modern language. KJ1970:386; GY2008:1124;
OT1968:99; JD1967:205.
Mnemonic: HAND UNABLE TO HOLD
COMBINED RICE PLANTS
380 The Remaining 1130 Characters