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
- 塞 block
- 抗 oppose
- 廃 abolish
- 障 obstacle
- 避 avoid
- 撤 withdraw
- 抑 suppress
- 拒 refuse
- 棄 abandon
- 却 send back
- 控 refrain
- 排 expel
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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.