Kanji 外 — "Outside"
Here is what 外 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "Outside" stick.
How it is read
がい, げ
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
そと, ほか, はず.す, はず.れる, と-
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.
During the Evening, kids grab a Branch and run Outside to play before it gets dark!
- 夕 Evening
The top half of the moon (月) is starting to peek out during the Evening.
- ト Branch
When the straight line has a stroke coming out from the side, it's no longer a staff. It's a Branch!
Words that use 外
12 of 27 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 外 そと / ほか outside
- 以外 いがい other than, with the exception of, excepting
- 意外 いがい unexpected, surprising
- 外す はずす to unfasten, to remove (v.t.)
- 海外 かいがい foreign, abroad, overseas
- 外れる はずれる to come off, to miss (a guess), to be off
- 外科 げか surgical department
- 案外 あんがい unexpectedly, surprisingly
- 外国人 がいこくじん foreigner
- 外出 がいしゅつ outing, going out
- 外国 がいこく foreign country
- 外部 がいぶ the outside, external
Want 外 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.
