The kanji character 拾 primarily means "to pick up," "to gather," or "to collect." It implies the action of retrieving something, often from the ground or a surface, or bringing things together. It can also imply a number, as it is a way to represent the number ten.

・On-yomi (音読み): ジュウ (jū) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ひろ(う) (hiro(u))

⚫︎拾得物 (shūtokubutsu) Translation: Found property; lost and found item. ⚫︎一万円拾円 (ichiman en jū en) Translation: Ten thousand and ten yen. (This example illustrates the use of 拾 for the number ten.) ⚫︎ゴミを拾う (gomi o hirou) Translation: To pick up garbage.

The kanji 拾 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is a radical called 手 (て, te), meaning "hand," and the right side is 合 (あう, au), meaning "to fit," "to unite," or "to combine." The original meaning seems to have been related to the action of using a hand to gather or collect something. The “hand” radical indicates the action, while the phonetic component "合" provides the sound and hints at the idea of bringing things together.