Japanese vocabulary in the Routledge 5000 frequency list
The Routledge frequency list of Japanese words is a set of 5000 of the most commonly-used words in Japanese
curated by Routledge ⇗, a respected British
academic publisher. The Routledge frequency dictionary starts with particles and basic terms, and includes grammatical consturctions and
many numbers (beyond 1-10 and the counters), so it is a practical set to learn from.
For those of you studying with Routledge, we've created a set of 50
collections in Kanshudo which map to the Routledge list.
Each collection contains roughly 100 words. In total these collections include 4909 words, as the Routledge list
includes about 100 words which are listed multiple times for different meanings, where Kanshudo shows all meanings for
each word in its main entry. However, Routledge also includes several variants of the same word under the same number, which in
Kanshudo appear as separate entities.
Each word's Routledge ranking is shown in Kanshudo's main details page for the word - look in
the frequency data table for the Routledge entry. For example, see the particle
の (the first word in the Routledge list).
For each collection, you can
automatically create Flashcards to study on your computer or smartphone, download
for use elsewhere, add the items to your Favorites,
or jump right in with Quick Study.
Routlege 5000 Vocab
Numbers correspond to the index of the entry in the Routledge list.
Kanshudo Flashcards are the best way to study and keep track of what you've studied.
Our flashcards use spaced repetition, the most efficient memorization system.
Flashcards are free to use, but you need to be a Registered User of Kanshudo.
Please LOG IN to use Flashcards.
The Kanshudo kanji usefulness rating shows you how useful a kanji is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness of , which means it is among the most useful kanji in Japanese.
is one of the 138 kana characters, denoted with a usefulness rating of K. The kana are the most useful characters in Japanese, and we recommend you thoroughly learn all kana before progressing to kanji.
All kanji in our system are rated from 1-8, where 1 is the most useful.
The 2136 Jōyō kanji have usefulness levels from 1 to 5, and are denoted with badges like this:
1
The 138 kana are rated with usefulness K, and have a badge like this:
Unfortunately that feature is not accessible here. Please contact support if you have any questions.
Change component list
By default the component builder shows the most common components (themselves joyo kanji, or used in
at least 3 other joyo kanji). Select an alternative set of components below.
Full details of
all components and their English names can be found here.
To find any kanji, first try to identify the components it is made up of.
For any components you recognize, if you know the English meaning or name,
start typing it in the text area. Full details of
all components and their English names can be found here.
Alternatively, count the strokes of the component,
and scan the list to find it visually.
Example
To find the kanji 漢:
Notice that it is made of several components: 氵 艹 口 夫.
氵 艹 口 all have three strokes, so you could look in the list in
the 3 stroke section. 夫 has four strokes.
Alternatively, you could start typing 'water' (氵), 'grass' (艹), 'mouth' (口) or 'husband' (夫)
in the search area, and the components will be highlighted
in yellow.
Keep adding components until you can see your kanji in the list of matches that appears near the top.
