Mnemonic
Two horizontal bars form a shelf overhead. A person hangs from them, gripping two more bars below that connect straight down into moon-white vertebrae. This stacked column is a spine — the rigid axis holding the entire body upright.
Additional thoughts
Visualize the kanji top-to-bottom: two strokes, then the person radical, then two more strokes, then the moon/flesh radical. Each layer is a segment of the spine stacking downward like vertebrae.Quick recall
Two bars, a person, two bars, moon-bone — all stacked into a spine.Details
The keyword for 脊 is spine. This kanji refers to the spinal column or backbone, the central bony structure running along the back of the body that supports and protects the spinal cord. It can also refer more broadly to the back or ridge of something, much as a mountain ridge serves as the "spine" of a landscape. The character conveys the idea of a central supporting axis that holds a structure upright.
- On'yomi
- せき
- Kun'yomi
- せ、せい