鞠

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to incline (one's torso); to bow; leather ball used in ancient times; (literary) to bring up; to rear; Taiwan pr. [ju2]

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

革 meaning “leather” + 匊 sound ( jū )

Components 革匊

bow respectfully · Heisig RSH #2841

革 leather + bound up + 米 rice

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已	jū gōng jìn cuì , sǐ ér hòu yǐ	to bend to a task and spare no effort unto one's dying day (idiom); striving to the utmost…
鞠躬尽瘁	jū gōng jìn cuì	to bend to a task and spare no effort (idiom); striving to the utmost
鞠躬	jū gōng	to bow; (literary) to bend down
蹴鞠	cù jū	cuju, ancient Chinese football (soccer)

Characters sharing the sound component 匊 — compare how they read.