Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info: 言 (ことば) – say

Henshall Mnemonic: sell words to read

Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 2
Frequency: #618 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

• 読む   [よむ]
  (v5m) to read   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 読み   [よみ]
  (n) reading   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読書   [どくしょ]
  (n) reading   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 句読点   [くとうてん]
  (n) punctuation marks   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 朗読   [ろうどく]
  (n,vs) reading aloud; recitation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 購読   [こうどく]
  (n,vs) subscription (e.g. magazine)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み上げる   [よみあげる]
  (v1) to read out loud (and clearly); to call a roll   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読者   [どくしゃ]
  (n) reader   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 積ん読   [つんどく]
  buying books and not reading them   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 解読   [かいどく]
  (n,vs) deciphering; decoding   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 必読   [ひつどく]
  (n) should be read by all   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 愛読   [あいどく]
  (n,vs) reading with pleasure   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 秒読み   [びょうよみ]
  (n) countdown   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み取り   [よみとり]
  (n,vs) reading   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み書き   [よみかき]
  (n) reading and writing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み物   [よみもの]
  (n) reading matter; reading material   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み返す   [よみかえす]
  (v5s) to reread; to read again   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読み方   [よみかた]
  (n) way of reading; how to read   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 音読   [おんどく]
  (n,vs) reading aloud   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 音読み   [おんよみ]
  (n) on (Chinese) reading of kanji   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読売   [よみうり]
  (n) Yomiuri (newspaper)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 読本   [とくほん]
  (n) reading-book   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 立ち読み   [たちよみ]
  (n) reading while standing (in a bookstore)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 訓読み   [くんよみ]
  (n) kun-yomi (Japanese reading of character)   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 読 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.