To Release
To Let Go, To Release Something, To Let Go Of Something
transitive verb, godan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means release so the verb vocab version is to release.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you: Imagine you are going to release something. It is a 花 (はな). You release it from your hand and it falls, hitting the ground in slow motion. You have the power to release and you are doing the releasing (versus 放れる where something is just released). You can remember this because even though you did the releasing of the flower, you're going to sue the pavement company for breaking your flower. It's all a big scam you're running.
魚を放す
to release a fish
手を放す
to let go of something
犬を放す
to let a dog loose
放せよ！
Let go of me!
三十分後、コウイチはついに私の手を放した。
Thirty minutes later, Koichi finally released my hand.
フグを海に放すといつも、泳いで逃げちゃって、私が呼んでも知らんぷりするの。どうすれば逃げないように教えることができるのかしら。
Every time I let Fugu loose in the sea, he swims off and when I call him he doesn’t listen. What should I do to teach him to not run away?