探
← →
grope
On-Yomi: タン — Kun-Yomi: さぐ.る、さが.す
Elements:
grope, finger, fingers, paper punch, Miss World, hole, house, human legs, tree, wood
Primitive:
paper punch This primitive simply discards the first stroke of that for hole to become a paper punch. When found at the top of its relative primitive, it undergoes the same change, the eight becoming human legs (see FRAME 1316 穴). [4]
Heisig story:
Fingers . . . paper punch . . . tree.
Koohii stories:
1) [gorgon] 20-2-2006(183): A pictograph of a japanese schoolgirl getting groped by perverts on the train. The fingers of course, a crown (her too short skirt) and her legs below (which to be honest are pretty thick like tree trunks).
2) [Katsuo] 6-1-2012(121): Note: "crown+human legs" appears 7 times in RTK. In 4 cases (nos. 323, 1327, 1328, 2920) crown is above human legs, and in the other 3 (1888, 2472, 2679) one leg passes through the crown. I call the 1st pattern "Miss World" (who is wearing a crown & has long human legs) and the 2nd "garter" (one human leg passes through the crown wearing it as a garter). Story: Miss World has climbed a tree to avoid the finger that was groping for her. ( 探 means "grope for", i.e. search).
3) [Zarxrax] 31-5-2008(69): (based on gorgon's story) a pictograph of a japanese schoolgirl getting groped by perverts on the train. The fingers of course, a crown (her too short skirt) and her legs below. It's her own fault for wearing such a short skirt and causing the perverts to get wood!
4) [raulir] 4-12-2006(57): I don't know why, but this is a pictograph of someone groping about in the dark (with his fingers, obviously) for his beloved wooden paper punch.
5) [romanrozhok] 17-1-2008(39): As esaulgd said, this kanji DOES NOT mean "touch" like 触る。 Here is my story: Imagine a blind detective who must GROPE for answers in by reading old police reports. But because he is blind, he must use brail books, you know, the ones that have been PAPER PUNCHED on PAPER (wood). Naturally, he uses his FINGERS for this.