斥 means “repel, reject, scout”

せき · seki

Also: retreat, recede, withdraw

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
しりぞける
On'yomi (Chinese reading)
セキ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 5 strokes

The story

An axe (斤) with one chip flying off (丶): something knocked away. 斥 pushes out: 排斥 is driving a group out, 斥力 is the force that pushes two like magnetic poles apart, and a 斥候 is a scout sent ahead of the army.

Used in 排斥 (haiseki, exclusion/ostracism), 斥力 (sekiryoku, repulsion), and 斥候 (sekkou, scout)

More from Block & Refuse

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