屈

to bend; yield; flinch; submit; crouch

Kanji 1188

In life, you must go with the flow sometimes but should "stand your ground" on other occasions. (Know when to fold them, know when to hold them, and all that.) Learn words about bending over—both literally (e.g., when putting on shoes) and metaphorically (e.g., when kowtowing to others).

Revision notes:

Oct. 29, 2022: p. 3 sidebar: In the sample sentence about not eating like an animal at a trough, I changed the Japanese and English a bit. The biggest problem was that つつく (to peck at (one’s food)) is for birds, and the trough suggests livestock, so つつく is no longer in the sentence. 

Jan. 28, 2022: 

• p. 2, Etymology Box: Updated the Henshall etymology and the Sears link.
• p. 8: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

June 12, 2015: 

• p. 1 Character Profile: The "Strokes: 8" line was hidden. It's now visible.
• p. 3 sidebar: In a sample sentence, I fixed the okurigana of 座り, which was wrong from a Joyo perspective. I also defined 座る (すわる: to sit) rather than 座り in the vocabulary.

Oct. 31, 2013: p. 1 Character Profile: I made the 2nd look-alike and its yomi blue, as they should have been!

Aug. 17, 2012: I added another photo that features 屈.

Mar. 16, 2012: This essay now has a photo that features 屈. It's a good one, too!