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

stroke order illustration  
English:
change
take the form of
influence
enchant
delude
-ization
On-Yomi:

Kun-Yomi:
ば.ける
ば.かす
ふ.ける
け.する
Bushu (Radical) Info:
人 (ひと) – person
化 (カ, ケ, ば.ける, ば.かす, ふ.ける, け.する) – change; take the form of; influence; enchant; delude; -ization
个 (カ , コ, こ, ひ) – counter for articles; individual
Henshall Mnemonic: bewitched person changes and falls
Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #89 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 N4 Words

  •   [ぶんか]
    (n) culture; civilization   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

  •   [かがく]
    (n) chemistry   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [けしょう]
    (n) make-up (cosmetic)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [へんか]
    (n,vs) change; variation; alteration; mutation; transition; transformation; transfiguration; metamorphosis; variety; diversity; inflection; declension; conjugation   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

  •   [きょうか]
    (n,vs) strengthen; intensify; reinforce; solidify   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうか]
    (n,vs) digestion   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

  • ける   [ばける]
    (v1) to appear in disguise; to take the form of; to change for the worse   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しんか]
    (n,vs) evolution; progress   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かごう]
    (n,vs) chemical combination   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかざい]
    (n) cultural assets; cultural property   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かせき]
    (n) fossil; petrifaction; fossilization   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かせん]
    (n) synthetic fibres   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [なんか]
    (n,vs) softening; mollification   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [あっか]
    (n,vs) (suffer) deterioration; growing worse; aggravation; degeneration; corruption   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • す   [ごまかす]
    (v5s) to deceive; to falsify; to misrepresent   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [さんか]
    (n) oxidation   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

  •   [ばけもの]
    (n) goblin; apparition; monster; ghost; phantom; spectre   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんか]
    (n) specialization   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [れっか]
    (n,vs) deterioration; degradation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じょうか]
    (n,vs) purification; cleanup   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • け   [おばけ]
    (n) goblin; apparition; monster; ghost   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じょうかそう]
    (n) septic tank; tank for purifying water   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じゆうか]
    (n) liberalization; freeing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [びか]
    (n,vs) beautification; glorification   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かがくひりょう]
    chemical fertilizer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ほんかくか]
    (vs) regularization; getting up speed; proceeding at full tilt   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かがくへいき]
    chemical weapons   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [きか]
    (n) naturalization   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かごうぶつ]
    (n) (chemical) compound   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかいさん]
    (n) cultural heritage   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかくんしょう]
    Order of Cultural Merit (award)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [じゅうようぶんかざい]
    important national treasure; important cultural property   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [こうか]
    (n,vs) hardening; vulcanization; sclerosis   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [へんかきゅう]
    (n) ball with a change of speed (baseball)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかじん]
    (n) person of culture; cultured person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [かせい]
    (n) change; transformation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかちょう]
    (Japanese) Agency for Cultural Affairs   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ぶんかてき]
    (adj-na) cultural   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [いっさんかたんそ]
    (n) carbon monoxide   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [えんか]
    (n) chloride   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ろうか]
    (n,vs) ageing; senile deterioration   [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.