断 Cut Off

Radical Combination

• L

  Lion
• 米

  Rice
• 斤

  Axe

Meaning

Primary

Cut Off

Mnemonic

A lion harvesting rice uses an axe to cut off the tops of the stalks. The lion is roaming the rice fields using his axe to harvest the rice. He does so by cutting off the part of the rice stalks he needs.

Hints

Picture this lion on his hind legs, walking through a rice field. He’s holding an axe in one hand and acting like a human. See him cut off the plants and hear the whoosh of the axe as he cuts.

Readings

On’yomi

だん

Kun’yomi

ことわ, た

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

The lion will cut off rice stalks until dawn (だん). But at the first light of dawn, it will run and hide in the shade of the trees, cut off from the rice.

Hints

When dawn comes in Africa (it's a lion, so that's where he is) it gets too hot to be in the sun, so the lion gets cut off from his job of cutting things off.