汰 means “weed out, sift”

た · ta

Also: washing, sieving, filtering, weeding out

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おごる, にごる, よなげる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

タ, タイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 7 strokes

The story

Water (氵) sloshed over something big (太), washing the grit away: 汰 is sifting. 淘汰 is weeding out, as in 自然淘汰, natural selection, and ご無沙汰しています, it's been ages, greets someone you have not been in touch with.

Used in 淘汰 (touta, weeding out/selection), ご無沙汰 (gobusata, long silence), and 警察沙汰 (keisatsuzata, a police matter)

More from Order & Rank

• 率 rate
• 整 arrange
• 級 grade
• 序 order
• 斉 all together
• 秩 order
• 衡 balance
• 逓 relay
• 逐 pursue
• 頓 tidy

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