Come learn 2000+ kanji and 6000+ vocabulary words with WaniKani.

20 妨げる To Obstruct

Alternative Meanings

To Prevent, To Hamper

Part of Speech

Transitive verb and Ichidan verb

Reading

さまたげる

  • Kyoko(Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi(Tokyo accent, male)

Context Sentences

あの会社は、トーフグの成功を妨げようとしているらしい。

I heard that company is trying to hamper Tofugu's success.

生産性を妨げるものは、すててしまった方がいいよ。

You should get rid of things that obstruct productivity.

どうして人々は宇宙人が地球にやってくる事を妨げようとするのか理解できません。

I don’t understand why people try preventing aliens from reaching the earth.

Meaning Explanation

This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means obstruct, so what is the verb vocab version? It's to obstruct.

Reading Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you: Your woman friend (see radical) is trying to obstruct you. "Sama(n)tha!" (さまた) you yell. "Let me pass!"

Utilized Kanji