珍 means “rare, unusual”

めずらしい · mezurashii

Also: curious, strange

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

めずらしい, たから

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

チン

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

A gem (王, the jewel radical) catching the light (彡): a treasure you rarely see. 珍しい is rare or unusual, and 珍味 are delicacies: Japan's famous three are salted sea urchin, dried mullet roe and salted sea cucumber guts.

Used in 珍しい (mezurashii, rare/unusual), 珍味 (chinmi, delicacy), and 珍事 (chinji, curious incident)

More from Heart & Mind

• 叫 shout
• 憎 hate
• 肯 affirm
• 依 depend
• 純 pure
• 快 pleasant
• 悩 worry

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