斜め
ななめ · naname · JLPT N2 · na-adj
diagonal
📐 斜 carries the 斗 (scoop/ladle) radical: a scoop tipped to one side gives a diagonal slant.
Say it as 'nah-nah-meh', a shrug at a line that isn't straight. The kanji 斜 uses the 斗 radical, a measuring scoop, and the tilted-scoop idea gives its meaning of slanted.
斜 — dipper 斗 + give 余 (phonetic)
斜 is a phonosemantic compound. The right side 斗 (a ladle or dipper) gives the meaning, since pouring from a dipper tilts it sideways. The left side 余 supplies the sound. From 'tilted ladle' the meaning broadened to 'slanting, oblique, askew.'