寄 - APPROACH the Building by Leaning Towards It

Readings & Meanings:

キ

よ（る）

よ（せる）

to approach, to drop in, to gather, contribute, to draw up a chair

Common Usage:

寄付

寄生虫

年寄り

言い寄る

Examples:

赤い羽募金に300円寄付した。

目黒区には世界唯一の寄生虫博物館がある。

「年寄りだと思って馬鹿にするな！」

喫茶店でナンパに言い寄られた。

Translations:

I contributed 300 yen to the red-feather fundraising. (red feathers are used in Japan instead of red ribbons. not necessarily AIDS-related.)

In Meguroku is the world's only parasite museum.

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm old!"

I was approached by a smarmy guy in the coffee shop.

Radical:

ウ-kammuri, the U-crown, 宀, is the radical.

奇 is the phonetic. It's a combination of 可 and 大, showing a person (大) who bends (可). In other words, a lame person. Somehow, this came to mean "strange, wonderous."

In 寄, 奇 lends its meaning of "lean, bend" to the roof up top to show someone leaning toward (and approaching) a building.

Bonus:



References:

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