伺 - To Look In On Another Person Is TO VISIT

Readings & Meanings:

うかが (う)

し

to ask, to visit, to hear

Common Usage:

伺い

Example:

「ちょっとお伺いしますが、ここから一番近い駅はどこですか。」

Translation:

Pardon me for asking, but where is the nearest station?

Radicals:

司 is a pictograph of a person looking through a narrow hole. 伺 adds another person to the pictograph, so it's now a person looking through a narrow opening at another person. Hence, look in on, ask after, inquire.

Important:

Ugh. When I first saw this kanji, I doubted my memory. I thought, "What? Is this 何? Or 同じ?"

伺 truly does look like a mashup of the two. Remember, if you have to ASK if it's 何 or 同, it's probably 伺.

Oh yes, and 伺う is very formal. Tego. It would be strange to use it together with casual speech.

References:

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/u.htm