拒 means “refuse, reject”

こばむ · kobamu

Also: repel, decline

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

こばむ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キョ, ゴ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 8 strokes

The story

A hand (扌) thrust out as big as a giant's (巨): stop right there. 拒む is to refuse, 拒否 is a flat no, and a 拒否権 is a veto, the power to block a decision single-handed.

Used in 拒む (kobamu, to refuse), 拒否 (kyohi, refusal), and 拒絶 (kyozetsu, rejection)

More from Block & Refuse

• 棄 abandon
• 却 send back
• 控 refrain
• 排 expel
• 抵 resist
• 阻 obstruct
• 妨 hinder
• 遮 block
• 罷 dismiss
• 斥 repel
• 塞 block
• 抗 oppose

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