To Be Pierced
To Get Pricked, To Be Stabbed
intransitive verb, godan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb.
This is an intransitive verb, meaning that the piercing just happens, without emphasis on what makes it happen. That's why this verb means to be pierced, to get pricked, or to be stabbed. This is a tricky one because the English translations often end up being transitive, but in Japanese we always use this with the particle に, not を, so it's intransitive.
Since this word has okurigana (hiragana attached to the kanji) you know that it's probably going to be the kun'yomi reading.
Lucky for you, the kanji readings for transitive and intransitive verbs are almost always the same. Once you learn one, you know them both! This reading is the same as 刺す.
心に刺さる
to go straight to the heart
胸に刺さる
to go straight to the heart, to pierce the chest
喉に刺さる
to pierce the throat, to get stuck in one's throat
目に刺さる
to pierce the eye
ハリが刺さる
to have a needle stuck
矢が刺さる
to have an arrow stuck
トゲが刺さる
to have a thorn stuck
言葉が刺さる
words strike a chord in one's heart
それは心に刺さる言葉だった。
Those words struck a chord in my heart.
矢が頭に刺さった。
The arrow got embedded in my head.
トゲが刺さらないように気をつけてね。
Be careful to not get pricked by a thorn.
トゲが刺さらないように気をつけてね。
Take care to not get pricked by a thorn.