Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info: 言 (ことば) – say

Henshall Mnemonic: five mouths speak many words

Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #301 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

• 語   [ご]
  (n,n-suf) language; word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 英語   [えいご]
  (n) the English language   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 単語   [たんご]
  (n) word; vocabulary; (usually) single-character word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語る   [かたる]
  (v5r) to talk; to tell; to recite   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語学   [ごがく]
  (n) language study   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 言語   [げんご]
  (n) language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 物語   [ものがたり]
  (n) tale; story; legend   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 国語   [こくご]
  (n) national language   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 熟語   [じゅくご]
  (n) idiom; idiomatic phrase; kanji compound   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 物語る   [ものがたる]
  (v5r) to tell; to indicate   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 用語   [ようご]
  (n) term; terminology   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 主語   [しゅご]
  (n) (gram) subject   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 敬語   [けいご]
  (n) honorific; term of respect   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 略語   [りゃくご]
  (n) abbreviation; acronym   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語句   [ごく]
  (n) words; phrases   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語源   [ごげん]
  (n) word root; word derivation; etymology   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 漢語   [かんご]
  (n) Chinese word; Sino-Japanese word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語彙   [ごい]
  (n) vocabulary; glossary   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 文語   [ぶんご]
  (n) written language; literary language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 標語   [ひょうご]
  (n) motto; slogan; catchword   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 標準語   [ひょうじゅんご]
  (n) (obs) standard (Japanese) language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 造語   [ぞうご]
  (n) coined word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 新語   [しんご]
  (n) new word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 古語   [こご]
  (n) obsolete word; old proverb; ancient (Japanese) language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語らう   [かたらう]
  (v5u) to talk; to tell; to recite; to pledge; to conspire with   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語り   [かたり]
  (n) talking   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 死語   [しご]
  (n) dead language; obsolete word   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語り口   [かたりくち]
  (n) way of reciting; way of telling a story   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語り手   [かたりて]
  (n) speaker; narrator; reciter   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 共通語   [きょうつうご]
  (n) common term; common (Japanese) language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 語気   [ごき]
  (n) tone; manner of speaking   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 日本語   [にほんご]
  (n) Japanese language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 外国語   [がいこくご]
  (n) foreign language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• ラテン語   [ラテンご]
  (n) Latin   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 俗語   [ぞくご]
  (n) colloquialism; colloquial language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 母国語   [ぼこくご]
  (n) mother tongue   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 口語   [こうご]
  (n) colloquial language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 和語   [わご]
  (n) native Japanese words   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 季語   [きご]
  (n) seasonal word (in haiku)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• フランス語   [フランスご]
  (n) French language   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 私語   [しご]
  (n) whispering; secret talk   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 国語辞典   [こくごじてん]
  Japanese-language dictionary   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 術語   [じゅつご]
  (n) technical term   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• スワヒリ語   [スワヒリご]
  Swahili (language); Kiswahili   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 同義語   [どうぎご]
  (n) synonym   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 語 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.