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Kanji Information Sheet for 公  ( PDF version of this Kanji PDF version )

stroke order illustration  
English:
public
prince
official
governmental
On-Yomi:
コウ
Kun-Yomi:
おおやけ
あきら

きみ
きん
たか
ただし
とも
ひろ
まさ
Bushu (Radical) Info: 八 (はちがしら) – eight
Henshall Mnemonic: eight lords show nose in public
Levels: JLPT N4 | JLPT 1 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #118 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).

Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N5 Words

JLPT N4 Words

  •   [こうむいん]
    (n) government worker; public (civil) servant   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

  •   [こうへい]
    (adj-na,n) fairness; impartial; justice   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

  •   [こうしき]
    (adj-na,n) formula; formality; official   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゅう]
    (n) the public   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうせい]
    (adj-na,n) justice; fairness; impartiality   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうひょう]
    (n,vs) official announcement; proclamation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうむ]
    (n) official business; public business   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうがい]
    (n) public nuisance; pollution   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうきょう]
    (adj-no,n) public; community; public service; society; communal   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

  •   [こうぜん]
    (adj-na,adj-no,n) open (e.g. secret); public; official   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうだん]
    (n) public corporation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうにん]
    (n) official recognition; authorization; licence; accreditation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうぼ]
    (n) public appeal; public contribution   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [おおやけ]
    (n) official; public; formal; open; governmental   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうえん]
    (n) public performance   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうよう]
    (n) government business; public use; public expense   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうりつ]
    (n) public (institution)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうかい]
    (n,vs) presenting to the public   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅじんこう]
    (n) (1) protagonist; main character; hero(ine) (of a story); (2) head of household   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

  •   [こうげん]
    (n) declaration; profession   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうこ]
    (n) finance corporation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうさい]
    (n) public debt; public bond or securities   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうさん]
    (n) probability   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • 使   [こうし]
    (n) minister (of legation)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうし]
    (n) company; firm (in China)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうし]
    (n) young nobleman   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうし]
    (n) public and private; official and personal; government and people   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうじ]
    (n) edict; public announcement   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしきせん]
    (n) regular game; pennant race   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゃ]
    (n) official residence   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゃ]
    (n) public corporation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゃさい]
    (n) public bonds   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゃく]
    (n) prince; duke   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうとりい]
    (n) (abbr) Fair Trade Commission   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゅうえいせい]
    sanitation; public health   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしゅうでんわ]
    public telephone   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ちほうこうきょうだんたい]
    (n) local public body   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ちほうこうむいん]
    local government employee   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしょう]
    (n) public name; announcing publicly   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうしょく]
    (n) public office   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうじん]
    (n) public character   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうせいとりひきいいんかい]
    Fair Trade Commission   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうせつ]
    (n) public (institution)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうせん]
    (n) public election   [K] [D] [Jisho]
Find more details for at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.