緒 - Keep Threads TOGETHER

Readings & Meanings:

ショ

チョ

お

beginning (lineage), cord, string (of an instrument)

Common Usage:

一緒に

内緒

情緒 （じょうちょ）

Examples:

彼と一緒に桜見に行った。

この話は彼には内緒にしておいてね。

彼女は情緒あふれる詩を作った。　（じょうちょ）

Translations:

I went with him to see the cherry blossoms.

Please keep this secret from him, okay?

She wrote this poem in a rush of emotion.

Radical:

Ito-hen (糸) again on the left.

者 on the right. As we know, this kanji is used for person in kanji combos everywhere. But its original pictographic meaning was to look like firewood, piled up. Thus, it used to have the meaning of "piling up," an amount more than one. Think of a bunch of threads, spooled together.

(I'm not sure why or when. 者 started to be used as a pronoun or to refer to people.)

Important:

So what's with this kanji, anyway? Why is it in the words for "together", "secret," and "emotion"? I don't really know. All you have to do is remember 一緒, by far the most common usage of this kanji.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/e.htm