Kanji 字 — "Letter"
Here is what 字 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "Letter" stick.
Also means: Character, Symbol
How it is read
じ
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
あざ, あざな, -な
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.
A Child locked under a Roof, forced to memorize every kanji Letter until they know them all!
- 宀 Roof
This is a house Roof. The stroke in the middle at the top is the chimney.
- 子 Child
This Child is spreading their arms out. They're like Suneo with the pointy head from Doraemon.
Words that use 字
12 of 15 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 字 じ letter, character
- 数字 すうじ numeral, figure
- 文字 もじ / もんじ letter (of alphabet), character
- 赤字 あかじ deficit, go in the red
- 名字 みょうじ surname, family name
- 漢字 かんじ kanji
- 黒字 くろじ balance (figure) in the black
- 習字 しゅうじ penmanship
- 英字 えいじ English letter (character)
- 活字 かつじ printing type
- ローマ字 ローマじ romanization, Roman letters (alphabet)
- 字体 じたい font, lettering
Want 字 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.
