剖 means “dissect, cut open”

ぼう · bou

Also: divide

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ボウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

A knife (刂) beside 咅, the same piece as in 部 and 倍: a blade opening something up to see its parts. 剖 lives in 解剖, dissection: 解剖学 is anatomy, and 司法解剖 is the autopsy ordered in a police case.

Used in 解剖 (kaibou, dissection/autopsy), 解剖学 (kaibougaku, anatomy), and 司法解剖 (shihou kaibou, forensic autopsy)

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