Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info: 貝 (かい) – shellfish

Henshall Mnemonic: defeated person flees bearing money

Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #443 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

• 負ける   [まける]
  (v1) to lose; to be defeated   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 負け   [まけ]
  (n) defeat; loss; losing (a game)   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 勝負   [しょうぶ]
  (n,vs) victory or defeat; match; contest; game; bout   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 背負う   [せおう]
  (v5u) to be burdened with; to carry on back or shoulder   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 負う   [おう]
  (v5u) to bear; to owe   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負かす   [まかす]
  (v5s) to defeat   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負んぶ   [おんぶ]
  (n,vs) carrying on one's back (e.g. baby)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負債   [ふさい]
  (n) debt; liabilities   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負傷   [ふしょう]
  (n,vs) injury; wound   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負担   [ふたん]
  (n,vs) burden; charge; responsibility   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 自負   [じふ]
  (n) conceit; bragging about one's own ability   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 請け負う   [うけおう]
  (v5u) to contract; to undertake   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 請負   [うけおい]
  (n) contracting; undertaking   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 気負い   [きおい]
  (n) fighting spirit; fighting mood   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負   [ふ]
  (n) negative; minus   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負い目   [おいめ]
  (n) indebtedness; unfulfilled promise; drawback   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 顔負け   [かおまけ]
  (n,vs) embarrassed; ashamed   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負けん気   [まけんき]
  (n) competitive spirit; spirit of rivalry   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負け越し   [まけこし]
  (n) more losses than wins (sport)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負け犬   [まけいぬ]
  (n) underdog; loser   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 勝ち負け   [かちまけ]
  (n) victory or defeat   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 抱負   [ほうふ]
  (n) aspiration; ambition; pretension   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 負荷   [ふか]
  (n,vs) burden; load (e.g cpu time, electricity, etc.)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• お負け   [おまけ]
  (n) (1) a discount; a prize; (2) something additional; bonus; an extra; (3) an exaggeration   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 負 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.