Kanji 間 — "Interval"
Here is what 間 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "Interval" stick.
Also means: Interval Of Time, Time Interval
How it is read
かん, けん
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
あいだ, ま, あい
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.
The Sun appears in the Interval between two Gate doors — that's the space where light gets through!
- 門 Gate
It's the handles on both sides of a large Gate that you must push together to open it.
- 日 Sun
The Sun in the sky is rectangular in shape. The stroke in the middle is a cloud blocking the sun so it doesn't glare in your eyes.
Words that use 間
12 of 42 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 時間 じかん time, hour
- 人間 にんげん human being, person
- 間 あいだ / ま space, between, interval, gap
- 仲間 なかま company, fellow, colleague, associate
- 間違う まちがう to be mistaken, to be incorrect, to err
- この間 このあいだ the other day, recently
- 年間 ねんかん year, yearly
- 間に合う まにあう to be in time, to be enough
- 間違える まちがえる to make a mistake (v.t.)
- 瞬間 しゅんかん moment, second
- 世間 せけん world, society
- 昼間 ひるま daytime, during the day
Want 間 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.
