括 means “bundle, tie up, bracket”

かつ · katsu

Also: fasten, arrest, constrict

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

くくる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カツ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

A hand (扌) beside a tongue (舌): picture someone tying up a whole meeting in one sentence. 括 is gathering into one: 一括 is all at once, as in 一括払い, paying in full, 総括 is a summing up, and 括弧 are brackets.

Used in 一括 (ikkatsu, all at once/lump sum), 括弧 (kakko, brackets/parentheses), and 総括 (soukatsu, summary/review)

More from Ropes & Knots

• 綱 rope
• 索 search
• 鎖 chain
• 絞 wring
• 縛 bind
• 結 tie
• 維 fiber
• 締 tighten
• 繰 reel

Learn 括 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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