累 means “accumulate, pile up”

るい · rui

Also: involvement, trouble, tie up

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ルイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

A field (田) over thread (糸): picture threads stacked layer on layer until they bury the field. 累 is piling up: 累計 is a running total, 累積 accumulation, and 累 can also be trouble that spreads, as in 累が及ぶ, when it reaches family or friends.

Used in 累計 (ruikei, cumulative total), 累積 (ruiseki, accumulation), and 累進課税 (ruishin kazei, progressive taxation)

More from Grow & Wane

• 堆 pile
• 旺 flourishing
• 耗 wear down
• 勃 sudden rise
• 展 unfold
• 張 stretch
• 拡 expand
• 盛 heap up
• 興 interest
• 縮 shrink
• 充 fill
• 隆 rise

Learn 累 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.