Meaning
詰 centers on two connected ideas: packing tightly and cornering. On the physical level, it describes filling a container until no space remains — stuffing luggage into a suitcase, cramming items into a box, or sealing food into a can. That sense of compression, of leaving no gaps, runs through every use of this kanji.
The physical meaning extends into figurative territory. Just as you can pack a box until nothing more fits, you can corner a person until there is no escape — pressing them with relentless questions, driving them into a logical or emotional dead end. The compound 追い詰める (to corner someone) and 問い詰める (to press with questions) both draw on this meaning. When a situation grows so congested that progress stops, 詰 describes that state of being stuck or blocked.
Structurally, 詰 combines the radical 言 (ごんべん, "words" or "speech") on the left with 吉 (きち, "auspicious" or "good fortune") on the right. 言 points directly to the kanji's verbal, confrontational side — words wielded as a tool to push someone into a corner. With 13 strokes, 詰 is a Jōyō kanji at the secondary school level (grade 8). It turns up on product labels like 缶詰 (canned food), in workplace negotiations gone to deadlock, and in the traditional game of shogi.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
The on'yomi is キツ (kitsu) — sharp and forceful. It appears mainly in formal compounds involving confrontation, criticism, or hard questioning. Words with キツ tend to carry a sense of pressure, blame, or difficulty.
- 詰問 (kitsumon) — cross-examination; pressing someone with hard questions; an interrogation-style line of inquiry
- 詰責 (kisseki) — censure; reprimand; holding someone accountable through forceful speech
- 詰屈 (kikkutsu) — tortuous; convoluted (used to describe writing or language that is difficult to follow)
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
詰 has three kun'yomi readings, each covering a different angle of the kanji's core meaning.
つめる (tsumeru) is the transitive verb form meaning "to pack," "to stuff," or "to shorten." This is the most common reading and forms the base of many compound verbs. When you pack a suitcase, fill a box with chocolates, or squeeze one more item into an overfull bag, you are using つめる.
- 詰める (tsumeru) — to pack; to stuff; to cram; to shorten a distance or gap
- 詰め込む (tsumekomu) — to cram into; to stuff full; to overload
- 詰め替える (tsumekaeru) — to refill; to repack into a new container
つまる (tsumaru) is the intransitive form, describing the resulting state: "to be packed," "to be blocked," or "to be stuck." A clogged drain つまります; a fully booked schedule is つまっている; a person at a loss for words also つまります.
- 詰まる (tsumaru) — to be blocked; to be stuffed up; to be at a loss
- 行き詰まる (ikizumaru) — to come to a dead end; to stall; to reach an impasse
つむ (tsumu) is a more literary or specialized reading found in certain set expressions and traditional contexts, conveying the sense of piling or packing incrementally.
Common Words & Compounds
詰 appears across a wide range of vocabulary, from product labels to shogi puzzles.
Packaging and Storage
- 缶詰 (kanzume) — canned food; also used colloquially to mean being confined to a room for intensive work (e.g., a writer locked away to finish a manuscript)
- 袋詰め (fukurozume) — bagging; packing goods into bags
- 瓶詰め (binzume) — bottled; preserved in a glass jar or bottle
- 詰め合わせ (tsume awase) — assortment; variety pack; a gift set containing an assortment of items
- 詰め替え (tsumekae) — refill pack; a replacement container designed to be repacked
Confrontation and Questioning
- 問い詰める (toitsumeru) — to press someone relentlessly with questions; to interrogate; to corner verbally
- 追い詰める (oitsumeru) — to corner; to chase someone into a dead end; to leave no escape
- 詰問 (kitsumon) — a cross-examination; a formal interrogation; hard questioning
Dead Ends and Stalemates
- 行き詰まり (ikizumari) — a deadlock; an impasse; a situation where no further progress is possible
- 手詰まり (tezumari) — stalemate; deadlock (especially in negotiations or strategy games)
- 詰め将棋 (tsume shōgi) — tsume shogi; a shogi puzzle focused on delivering checkmate in the fewest moves possible
Study and Cramming
- 詰め込み教育 (tsumekomi kyōiku) — rote learning; cram-style education focused on memorizing large amounts of information
- 一夜漬け (ichiya-zuke) — last-minute cramming (studying all night before an exam); the ultimate form of 詰め込み
Example Sentences
旅行の荷物をスーツケースに詰めました。
Ryokō no nimotsu wo sūtsukēsu ni tsumemashita.
I packed my travel luggage into the suitcase.
冷蔵庫が食べ物で詰まっていて、何も入らない。
Reizōko ga tabemono de tsumatte ite, nani mo hairanai.
The refrigerator is stuffed with food and nothing else can fit in.
缶詰は長期間保存できるので、非常食に便利です。
Kanzume wa chōkikan hozon dekiru node, hijōshoku ni benri desu.
Canned food can be stored for a long time, so it is useful as emergency provisions.
パイプが詰まって、水が全然流れません。
Paipu ga tsumatte, mizu ga zenzen nagaremasen.
The pipe is completely clogged and water won't flow at all.
刑事は容疑者を追い詰めて、自白させた。
Keiji wa yōgisha wo oitsumete, jihaku saseta.
The detective cornered the suspect and got a confession out of him.
試験前日に知識を頭に詰め込んでも、すぐに忘れてしまう。
Shiken zenjitsu ni chishiki wo atama ni tsumekonde mo, sugu ni wasurete shimau.
Even if you cram knowledge into your head the night before an exam, you'll forget it right away.
交渉は手詰まりの状態になり、両者は譲歩しなかった。
Kōshō wa tezumari no jōtai ni nari, ryōsha wa jōho shinakatta.
The negotiations reached a stalemate, and neither side would concede.
上司は部下のミスについて問い詰めた。
Jōshi wa buka no misu ni tsuite toitsumeta.
The boss pressed his subordinate with questions about the mistake.
詰め合わせのお菓子セットを母へのプレゼントに選んだ。
Tsume awase no okashi setto wo haha e no purezento ni eranda.
I chose an assorted sweets gift set as a present for my mother.
このプロジェクトは行き詰まってしまったので、根本から見直す必要がある。
Kono purojekuto wa ikizumatte shimatta node, konpon kara minaosu hitsuyō ga aru.
This project has completely stalled, so we need to reconsider it from the ground up.
Memory Tip
Think of 言 (words) pressing hard against 吉 (good fortune) — but instead of bringing luck, those words push the listener into a tight corner with no exit. Now picture a sealed tin can: every sardine crammed in so tightly that not a single gap remains. That image — the perfectly packed 缶詰 — is the heart of 詰. A suitcase stuffed to bursting, a pipe blocked by debris, a suspect with nowhere to run — all of them are 詰. Tightly packed. Nowhere to run. Completely stuffed.