屈 means “bend, yield”

くつ · kutsu

Also: flinch, submit

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

かがむ, かがめる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

クツ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 8 strokes

The story

A body (尸) bent low over 出, go out: picture crouching to crawl out through a low doorway. 屈 is bending: 屈伸 is the knee bends of a warm-up, 屈服 giving in, and 退屈, boredom, is its most everyday word.

Used in 退屈 (taikutsu, boredom), 理屈 (rikutsu, logic/reasoning), and 屈伸 (kusshin, bending and stretching)

More from Bodies in Motion

• 翻 flip
• 践 put into practice
• 赴 proceed
• 跳 jump
• 垂 hang down
• 奔 rush
• 蹴 kick
• 踏 step on
• 懸 hang
• 躍 leap
• 駆 gallop
• 揺 shake

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

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