緊急

きんきゅう · kinkyuu · JLPT N1 · noun

urgent

🚨 緊 = tight + 急 = hasty: a tight, hurried squeeze, like a siren-level rush

緊 (kin) means tight or tense; 急 (kyuu) means hasty or sudden. Together they describe a tense, rushed situation that demands immediate action.

急 — heart radical 心 + 及 (reach)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 supplies the meaning (an emotional state) while 及 ('to reach, catch up') gives the sound. Originally it depicted a racing, anxious heart — hence the modern senses 'urgent,' 'hurried,' and 'impatient.'

More Japanese words · How Japanese works