Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info: 一 (いち) – one

Henshall Mnemonic: three fingers

Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 1
Frequency: #14 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

• 三日   [みっか]
  (n) three days; the third day (of the month)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三   [さん]
  (num) three   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三つ   [みっつ]
  (n) three   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三百   [さんびゃく]
  (n) 300; many   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三月   [さんがつ]
  (n-adv) March   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 再三   [さいさん]
  (adv,n) again and again; repeatedly   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三日月   [みかづき]
  (n) new moon; crescent moon   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三角   [さんかく]
  (n) triangle; triangular   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 三   [み]
  (num) three   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三味線   [しゃみせん]
  (n) three-stringed Japanese guitar; shamisen   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 三者   [さんしゃ]
  (n) three persons; three parties   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三種   [さんしゅ]
  (n) three kinds; three varieties   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三十   [さんじゅう]
  (num) thirty   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三十日   [みそか]
  (n) last day of month   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三十八度線   [さんじゅうはちどせん]
  the Thirty-eighth Parallel   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三重   [さんじゅう]
  (n) triple; treble; threefold; three-ply; triplicate   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三女   [さんじょ]
  (n) third daughter   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三省   [さんせい]
  (n) frequent reflection (meditation)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三振   [さんしん]
  (n,vs) strike out (baseball); fanning out   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三人   [さんにん]
  (n) three people   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三千   [さんぜん]
  (n) 3000; many   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三選   [さんせん]
  (n) third-term election   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三代   [さんだい]
  (n) three generations; the third   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三男   [さんなん]
  (n) three men; third son   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三度   [さんど]
  three times   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 五十三次   [ごじゅうさんつぎ]
  (n) the 53 Toukaidou stages   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 奪三振   [だつさんしん]
  (n) striking a batter out   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 第三国   [だいさんごく]
  (n) a third country   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 第三者   [だいさんしゃ]
  (n) third person; outsider; disinterested person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三部   [さんぶ]
  (n) three parts; three copies   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三部作   [さんぶさく]
  (n) trilogy   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三越   [みつこし]
  Mitsukoshi (department store)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三方   [さんぼう]
  (n) three sides; small offering stand   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三本   [さんぼん]
  (adj) three (long cylindrical things)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 三枚   [さんまい]
  (n) comedy   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 三 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.