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Hints In Meaning & Pronunciation

This is a collection of hints for understanding Kanji better. Wherever possile, clicking on a character will open up a stroke order diagram for it in a new tab.


Hints In Meaning

Certain collections of strokes (usually to the left or top of the character) will sometimes give hints as to what it means. To reiterate, not every collection of strokes conveys meaning like this, but these appear often enough to be useful. Please keep in mind that just because one of these collections of strokes appears within a character, does not automatically mean that it carries that meaning.

Collection of Strokes General Meaning Sometimes Shows Up In Characters Related To...
水 → 氵 water [not to be confused with the "ice" radical 冫] liquids
手 → 扌 hand actions, verbs
肉 → 月 meat / flesh [not to be confused with "moon" 月] anatomy, organs
心 →忄 heart emotions
言 speech language
辶 motion movement
疒 sickness illnesses, injuries
虫 insect insects, small creatures
犬 → 犭 animal animals
艸 → 艹 grass plants
金 metal substances/chemicals with metallic properties
土 earth soil, geography
石 stone minerals
人 → 亻 person [not to be confused with the "going" radical 彳] people
刀 → 刂 sword cutting tools
酉 alcohol alcohol, items that are fermented
火 → 灬 fire fire


Hints In Pronunciation
[Taken from Cure Dolly's "Sound Sisters" Flashcards]

The following will assume that the reader already knows ひらがな.

Certain collections of strokes (usually to the right or bottom of the character) will sometimes give hints as to how it is pronounced. These 音読み [おんよみ] or "sound readings" often appear in words formed of multiple Chinese characters. These multi-character compounds are referred to as 熟語 [じゅくご].

Again, not every collection of strokes conveys pronunciation like this, but these appear often enough to be useful. Please keep in mind that just because one of these collections of strokes appears within a character, does not automatically mean that it carries that pronunciation.


Group 1

• 安 [あん] → 案, 按, 鞍, 鮟


Group 2

• 化 [か] → 花, 靴
• 可 [か] → 河, 何, 荷, 苛, 呵, 歌
• 果 [か] → 課, 菓, 踝, 顆
• [か] → 渦, 堝, 鍋, 蝸, 窩, 禍


Group 3

• 我 [が] → 峨, 蛾, 餓, 俄, 鵞


Group 4

• 各 [かく] → 格, 喀, 閣, 額


Group 5

• 干 [かん] → 汗, 肝, 奸, 刊, 岸
• 官 [かん] → 棺, 管, 館


Group 6

• 几 [き] → 机, 肌, 飢
• 其 [き] → 期, 欺, 棋, 基, 旗
• 己 [き] → 起, 記, 紀, 忌
• 奇 [き] → 崎, 埼, 椅


Group 7

• 義 [ぎ] → 儀, 議, 犠, 蟻, 艤


Group 8

• 及 [きゅう] → 吸, 級, 扱


Group 9

• 共 [きょう] → 供, 恭, 洪, 哄
• [きょう] → 峡, 狭, 挟


Group 10

• 金 [きん] → 欽, 錦, 銀


Group 11

• 禺 [ぐう] → 遇, 寓, 隅, 偶


Group 12

• 圭 [けい] → 掛, 桂, 畦, 珪, 罫, 鮭, 硅
• 糸 [けい] → 系, 係, 繋
• [けい] → 径, 経, 軽, 怪, 茎
Note: These are pretty regularly けい, but 怪 is usually かい or け.


Group 13

• 見 [けん, かん] → 硯, 蜆, 現
• [けん] → 険, 験, 検
• [けん] → 券, 巻, 圏, 拳


Group 14

• 古 [こ] → 居, 固, 故, 枯, 個, 湖, 箇, 沽, 姑, 苦


Group 15

• 五 [ご] → 語, 悟, 伍


Group 16

• 工 [こう] → 紅, 空, 虹, 江, 攻, 功, 肛
• 交 [こう] → 校, 絞, 狡, 較, 郊, 効, 咬
• 光 [こう] → 恍
• 高 [こう] → 縞, 稿, 藁
Note: Very common reading when not in compounds too.
• [こう] → 孝, 老, 考
Note: This is not the pronunciation when it occurs in the fairly frequent 者 "doll" component, which has a quite strong tendency to be しょ, ちょ, or と.


Group 17

• [こん] → 根, 痕, 恨, 懇, 墾
Note: This is very close to 良 [りょう]. They both mean "good".


Group 18

• 采 [さい] → 彩, 菜, 採
• 斉 [さい] → 剤, 済, 斎
Note: 斉 alone is せい, but the others are さい / ざい


Group 19

• [さく] → 作, 昨, 窄, 酢, 搾


Group 20

• 士 [し] → 仕, 志, 誌
• 司 [し] → 伺, 詞, 嗣, 飼
• 次 [し] → 姿, 諮, 資


Group 21

• 寺 [じ] → 侍, 持, 時, 塒, 峙
Note: Remember that 待 is the exception and tends to be たい.


Group 22

• 昔 [しゃく] → 借, 惜, 錯


Group 23

• 朱 [しゅ] → 株, 珠, 殊, 蛛


Group 24

• [しゅん] → 俊, 峻, 悛, 逡, 竣, 浚


Group 25

• 旬 [じゅん, しゅん] → 洵, 殉, 恂


Group 26

• 肖 [しょう] → 宵, 消, 硝
• 尚 [しょう] → 常, 裳, 掌
• 昌 [しょう] → 娼, 唱, 菖, 晶
• 召 [しょう] → 招, 沼, 昭, 紹, 詔, 照


Group 27

• 申 [しん] → 神, 伸, 呻, 押, 紳
• 辰 [しん] → 唇, 振, 賑, 震, 娠
• [しん] → 診, 疹, 参
Note: 参 is usually さん and on its own is a variant of 三 in documents. The others are mostly しん or ちん.


Group 28

• 正 [せい, しょう] → 征, 政, 症, 整
• 生 [せい, しょう] → 姓, 性, 星, 牲, 惺
• 成 [せい, しょう, じょう] → 盛, 誠, 筬, 城
• 青 [せい, しょう] → 清, 靖, 精, 晴, 請, 情, 鯖, 静


Group 29

• [せん] → 浅, 銭, 践


Group 30

• 且 [そ] → 粗, 祖, 狙, 阻, 組


Group 31

• 相 [そう] → 想, 箱, 霜
• 曽 [そう] → 贈, 僧, 憎, 増
• 曹 [そう] → 遭, 槽, 糟
Note: The central element is 曲 (tune or bend). Distinguish it from 昔 = しゃく
• [そう] → 燥, 操, 藻


Group 32

• 則 [そく] → 側, 測, 惻


Group 33

• 旦 [たん] → 但, 胆, 疸, 担


Group 34

• 中 [ちゅう] → 忠, 沖, 仲, 虫, 狆


Group 35

• 長 [ちょう] → 張, 帳, 脹


Group 36

• [つう] → 通, 桶, 痛　
Note: 踊 does not have this pronunciation!


Group 37

• 弟 [てい] → 第, 剃, 涕
• 廷 [てい] → 庭, 挺, 艇
• [てい] → 低, 底, 抵, 邸, 抵


Group 38

• [てき] → 滴, 適, 敵


Group 39

• 童 [どう] → 撞, 憧, 瞳
• 同 [どう] → 洞, 胴, 桐, 恫, 銅, 洞, 筒


Group 40

• 白 [はく] → 伯, 拍, 泊, 迫, 舶, 狛, 柏, 箔, 珀


Group 41

• 莫 [ばく] → 摸, 膜, 漠, 博, 縛, 幕


Group 42

• 半 [はん] → 伴, 絆, 拌, 判
Note: Not to be confused with 平
• 反 [はん] → 版, 板, 坂, 飯, 販, 叛
Note: 仮 is usually か, never はん. With an extra upright, 反 becomes 皮, pronounced ひ.


Group 43

• 非 [ひ] → 悲, 緋, 誹, 鯡, 琲, 扉
• 皮 [ひ, は] → 彼, 被, 疲, 被, 披
Note: Without an extra upright, 皮 becomes 反, pronounced はん.


Group 44

• 付 [ふ] → 府, 符, 附, 俯


Group 45

• [ふく] → 福, 副, 幅, 富, 蝠


Group 46

• 分 [ふん] → 粉, 紛, 雰


Group 47

• 辟 [へき] → 僻, 壁, 癖, 僻


Group 48

• 扁 [へん] → 編, 偏, 篇, 蝙


Group 49

• 甫 [ほ] → 浦, 捕, 哺, 匍, 補, 蒲, 輔, 舗


Group 50

• 朋 [ほう] → 崩, 棚, 硼
• 包 [ほう] → 抱, 泡, 胞, 砲, 飽, 咆
• [ほう] → 峰, 逢, 縫, 蜂, 蓬


Group 51

• 方 [ぼう, ほう] →
• 亡 [ぼう, もう] → 忙, 忘, 盲, 荒, 望, 妄


Group 52

• 立 [りゅう] → 竜, 滝, 粒, 笠, 龍


Group 53

• 良 [りょう] → 郎, 浪, 朗, 狼, 廊


Group 54

• 令 [れい] → 冷, 鈴, 零, 領, 齢, 鈴
Note: The written form of this character sometimes differs from the printed form given here.