Kanji 北 — "North"
Here is what 北 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "North" stick.
How it is read
ほく
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
きた
the native Japanese reading — usually appears when the kanji stands alone
How to remember it
Kanji are not random strokes. Learn the parts and the whole becomes easy. Put the parts together into one picture. The stranger it is, the harder it is to forget.
You pick up a Spoon with your Left Half hand and point it towards the North — why did you do that?
- 丬 Left Half
Something split in half at the center so you only see what's on the Left Half side.
- 匕 Spoon
This is the shape of a Spoon for eating rice. This spoon looks a bit odd because it has another handle sticking out.
Words that use 北
5 of 5 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 北 きた north
- 敗北 はいぼく defeat (as a verb it means 'to be defeated')
- 北極 ほっきょく North Pole
- 南北 なんぼく south and north
- 葛飾北斎 かつしかほくさい a famous Edo-period woodblock artist and painter
Want 北 to still be there next month?
Reading it once is not remembering it. The app brings each kanji back right before you would have forgotten it.
