Study Japanese language, Kanji; learn about Japanese travel, culture, life, music (JPOP) and more

Kanji Study

You can use this page to randomly display a Kanji, display a specific Kanji or display a previous Kanji of the Day from the mailing lists.

Display random Jōyō Kanji

Display random kanji by grade level: Grade 1  |   Grade 2  |   Grade 3  |   Grade 4  |   Grade 5  |   Grade 6

Display random kanji by JLPT level: N1  |   N2  |   N3  |   N4  |   N5

Find a previous mailing list Kanji:    

Find a specific Kanji:  


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

stroke order illustration  
English:
make a deal
selling
dealing in
merchant
On-Yomi:
ショウ
Kun-Yomi:
あきな.う
あき
Bushu (Radical) Info:
亠 (なべぶた) – lid
口 (くち) – mouth
Henshall Mnemonic: use mouth and legs to trade, standing at counter
Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #413 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 N3 Words

  •   [しょうばい]
    (n,vs) trade; business; commerce; transaction; occupation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうひん]
    (n) commodity; article of commerce; goods; stock; merchandise   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうにん]
    (n) trader; shopkeeper; merchant   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

  •   [しょうてん]
    (n) shop; business firm   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうぎょう]
    (n) commerce; trade; business   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうしゃ]
    (n) trading company; firm   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

  •   [しょう]
    (n,n-suf) quotient   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

  •   [しょうせん]
    (n) sales war   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうだん]
    (n,vs) business discussion; negotiation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • い   [おおあきない]
    (n) heavy turnover (trading)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうひょう]
    (n) trademark   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうひんけん]
    (n) gift certificate   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうほう]
    (n) trade; business; commerce; commercial law   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうむ]
    (n) commercial affairs   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうよう]
    (n) on business; for business; business purpose   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [ねんしょう]
    (n) yearly (annual) turnover   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [つうしょう]
    (n) commerce; trade   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [めだましょうひん]
    loss leader   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  • い   [あきない]
    (n) trade; business   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうかい]
    (n) firm; company   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうがく]
    (n) commercial science   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [がしょう]
    (n) picture dealer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうこう]
    (n) commerce and industry   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうこうかいぎしょ]
    Chamber of Commerce and Industry   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうこん]
    (n) commercial spirit   [K] [D] [Jisho]
  •   [しょうじ]
    (n) commercial affairs   [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.