遅 - SLOW Rhino on the Road, Watch for Horns

Readings & Meanings:

おく（らす）

おく（れる）

チ

おそ（い）

slow, late

Common Usage:

遅刻

遅い

Examples:

今日は寝坊して学校に遅刻しそうになった。

彼は歩くのが遅い。

Translations:

I overslept, so it seems I was late for school.

He's slow at walking.

Radical:

The radical is Shinnyou, the Road Radical. See http://sokasoka.blogspot.com/2008/03/line-them-up-and-choose.html for the introduction to Shinnyou.

The element on the road derives from 犀. (This is a lot easier to see if you look at the older version of 遅: 遲.

犀 currently means rhinocerous, but it really refers to any big, lumbering animal. The 尸 above is "body," and the 辛 below is "needle," or horn.

Shinnyou indicates something to do with movement. How does a big, lumbering, horned animal move? Probably pretty slowly.

Bonus:

「遅い！」

I heard this all the time in the Naruto anime, back when it was interesting. Ninja A would take a swing at Ninja B, but Ninja B was too fast and hit Ninja A instead, saying "Osoi!" In this context it means "Slow!" or "Too late!"

You can say it, too, in a non-otaku context. If you tell a joke or say something clever, and there's one friend listening who has no idea what you're saying, but then, a minute after everyone else, finally understands, you can call them "遅い!"

References:

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