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Kanji-induced dementia (KID) strikes again! Although I believed I’d never seen 追 until the fateful encounters mentioned two weeks ago, I was quite wrong. No surprise there; even when one has stumbled across certain characters thirty-five times before, KID makes them seem fresh and new.
One of my Japanese language partners had used 追 twice before in emails, referring both times to my never-ending workload:
締め切りに追われていませんか？
Shimekiri ni owarete imasen ka?
Aren’t you chased by deadlines?
きっと最後の追い込みをしているのでしょうね。
Kitto saigo no oikomi o shite iru no deshō ne.
By now you must surely be in the final stages.
The second sentence contains 追い込み (oikomi), which means “final stages” or “last spurt” and derives from the following verb:
追い込む (oikomu: to herd, to drive into; to strike inward (a disease); to make an extra effort at the end)
to pursue + to drive inward
The last definition, “to make an extra effort at the end,” seems the most relevant in terms of her sentence.
Because of words such as 追い込み, it’s easy to associate 追 with hard work. The character can have the connotation of an intense effort (e.g., pursuing or chasing someone away). This sense of extreme effort comes through in the following sample 追い込む sentences from Jim Breen:
私のパンチは彼をロープに追い込んだ。
Watashi no panchi wa kare o rōpu ni oikonda.
My punch sent him reeling into the rope.
僕は追い込まれると一番仕事をする。
Boku wa oikomareru to ichiban shigoto o suru.
I work best under pressure.
Here are more 追 words that touch on the matter of working someone’s tail off:
追い使う (oitsukau: to work someone hard)
to chase + to employThis is an uncommon word.
追い回す (oimawasu: to chase around, to order about, to drive hard) to chase + around
This word isn’t strictly about hard work, but I included it because I love all the boxiness in 追 and 回.
窮追 (kyūtsui: to drive into a corner)
to go to extremes + to pursue
What’s with the Crazy-Looking Kanji 窮? …
Well, I don’t want to work you too hard. So take a break and enjoy today’s Verbal Logic Quiz.
