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

stroke order illustration  
English:
lord
chief
master
main thing
principal
On-Yomi:
シュ

シュウ
Kun-Yomi:
ぬし
おも
あるじ
かず

もん
Bushu (Radical) Info:
丶 (てん) – dot
亠 (なべぶた) – lid
Henshall Mnemonic: king with bit extra is real master
Levels: JLPT N4 | JLPT 3 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #95 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

  •   [ごしゅじん]
    (n) (hon) your husband; her husband   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

  •   [しゅふ]
    (n) housewife; mistress   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅよう]
    (adj-na,n) chief; main; principal; major   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • に   [おもに]
    (adv) mainly; primarily   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅぎ]
    (n) doctrine; rule; principle   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅちょう]
    (n,vs) claim; request; insistence; assertion; advocacy; emphasis; contention; opinion; tenet   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

  •   [しゅやく]
    (n) leading part; leading actor (actress)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [やぬし]
    (n) landlord   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅご]
    (n) (gram) subject   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅじん]
    (n) master; head (of a household); landlord; one's husband; employer; host   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

  •   [しゅどう]
    (n,vs) main leadership   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅにん]
    (n) person in charge; responsible official   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じしゅ]
    (n) independence; autonomy   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅ]
    (n) (one's) master; (our) lord   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぬし]
    (n) owner; master; lover; god   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅえん]
    (n) starring; playing the leading part   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅかん]
    (n) subjectivity; subject; ego   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [くんしゅ]
    (n) ruler; monarch   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅけん]
    (n) sovereignty; supremacy; dominion   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅさい]
    (n,vs) organization; sponsorship   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅしょく]
    (n) staple food   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じぬし]
    (n) landlord   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [みんしゅ]
    (n) democratic; the head of the nation   [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]
  •   [しゅたい]
    (n) subject; main constituent   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

  •   [じんどうしゅぎ]
    humanism; humanitarianism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅどうけん]
    (n) hegemony; leadership; initiative   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [やといぬし]
    (n) employer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [みんぞくしゅぎ]
    nationalism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [やといぬし]
    (n) employer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅはん]
    (n) principal offence; principal offender   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぐんこくしゅぎ]
    militarism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅひつ]
    (n) editor-in-chief   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じょうしゅ]
    (n) lord of a castle   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅほう]
    (n) main battery; main armament   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [きょうさんしゅぎ]
    communism; collectivism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [もちぬし]
    (n) owner; proprietor   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぜんたいしゅぎ]
    totalitarianism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じゆうしゅぎ]
    liberalism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅりゅう]
    (n) main current (stream)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅりょく]
    (n) main force; chief object   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じしゅてき]
    (adj-na) independent; autonomous   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [はんしゅ]
    (n) feudal lord; daimyo   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しほんしゅぎ]
    capitalism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [てんしゅ]
    (n) shopkeeper   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [あるじ]
    (n) master; head (of a household); landlord; one's husband; employer; host   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [おも]
    (adj-na,n) chief; main; principal; important   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • たる   [しゅたる]
    (adj-pn) main; principal; major   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • として   [しゅとして]
    (adv) mainly   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しゅいん]
    (n) primary cause; main factor   [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.