奴 means “guy, fellow, servant”

やつ · yatsu

Also: slave, manservant

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading): やつ, やっこ
On'yomi (Chinese reading): ド

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 5 strokes

The story

A woman (女) held by a hand (又): 奴 once meant a servant or slave, as in 奴隷. Today 奴, read やつ, is a casual 'guy' or 'thing', as in いい奴, a good guy, and 冷奴, chilled tofu, is said to be named for the square crests on footmen's coats.

Used in 奴 (yatsu, guy/fellow), 奴隷 (dorei, slave), and 冷奴 (hiyayakko, chilled tofu)

奴 means “guy, fellow, servant”

The story

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