By default the Component Builder shows the most common Joyo kanji components (ie, components which are themselves Joyo kanji, or which are used in at least 3 other Joyo kanji). Select an alternative set of components below.
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are related but subtly different concepts that all stem from the fact that Japanese as a language existed independently of the kanji-based writing system imported from China.
あ
当
て
じ
字
(ateji) refers to the use of kanji phonetically to represent words they are etymologically unrelated to. It was a very common way to import words from foreign languages into Japanese before the advent of katakana (and is still common in China). The term ateji refers to the kanji characters used.
じゅくじくん
熟字訓
(jukujikun) refers to the use of a (typically native) Japanese word as the reading of a kanji word, without regard to the usual readings of those kanji. The term jukujikun refers to the reading - the readings for jukujikun words are the common readings for these particular words.
ぎくん
義訓
(gikun) refers to the use of an irregular reading for a kanji word. Examples of gikun may at times be considered to be errors, although they commonly appear in a variety of texts, particularly creative pieces, such as stories, poetry and song lyrics. It is unlikely that they will be found in academic or other such formal texts. As with jukujikun, the term gikun refers to the reading.
Examples
Ateji
One of the most common ateji is
すし
寿司
, meaning sushi (i.e. the food comprising rice and raw fish). In fact 寿 means 'longevity' and 司 means 'administer', so the expression leads to an interesting implied underlying meaning - sushi administers longevity! Interestingly, however, this term is in such common use in Japan that most Japanese do not consider it to be ateji.
Another very common ateji is
コーヒー
珈琲
, coffee. Although this character combination is falling out of use, it's still commonly seen in the names of traditional coffee shops. In fact the characters used mean 'hairpin' and 'string of pearls' (search)!
Ateji are very commonly used for country names. For example, originally America was represented in Japanese as
あめりか
亜米利加
. As here, the characters are chosen for their common readings, independently of meanings. (American doesn't really have anything to do with 'adding effective Asian rice' ...) In modern Japanese, these ateji are no longer commonly used - the name would be spelled phonetically with katakana instead (eg アメリカ).
Jukujikun
One of the most common jukujikun is
つゆ
梅雨
, meaning tsuyu (i.e. the rainy season, or the 'fifth season' in Japan). つゆ is the Japanese word, but it is used as the standard reading of the character combination 梅雨, which originated in Chinese. 梅 means 'plum' (the fruit); 雨 means 'rain'. So this is an evocative way to describe the heavy rain of the tsuyu - plum-sized raindrops!
Another common (and eminently sensible) jukujikun is
たばこ
煙草
, which uses the characters for 'smoke' and 'grass'.
Another very common jukujikun is
かわい
可愛
い, meaning cute. In this case the implied meaning is good (可) love (愛).
One of the best examples of jukujikun is
おとな
大人
. In this case the expected reading of the kanji would be 'だいじん', which is a word (but with a slightly different meaning). However, the characters are also used to write おとな, so when reading, the context is required to determine how to pronounce them.
Another common jukujikun is
いなか
田舎
, countryside. This is a common Japanese word, applied to the characters for 'field' and 'dwelling'. (Note that いなか is a term that can be considered offensive depending on the context, in the same sort of way that 'provincial' could be seen as subtly derogatory in English.)
きょう
今日
is another common jukujikun. The Japanese word 'きょう' meaning 'today' is assigned to the characters 'now' and 'day', which makes great sense from a meaning standpoint.
Gikun
An example of gikun is the reading からだ for 身体. The expected reading of 身体, しんたい, exists separately, and with largely the same meaning. The 'correct' kanji form of からだ is 体.
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The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a grammar point is for you to learn.
Grammar point has a Kanshudo usefulness level of
.
You can view a summary of your mastery of grammar points at different usefulness (or JLPT) levels
here.
Grammar points in our system are rated from 1 to 6, where 1 is the most useful.
A usefulness level of 1 roughly corresponds to the first level of the JLPT, level 5 - i.e., you would be expected to know this grammar if your Japanese was at JLPT 5 level. A usefulness level of 5 roughly corresponds to JLPT 1 (the highest JLPT level).
Some grammar points also have a JLPT badge, indicating they appear in standard lists of required JLPT grammar. Some useful grammar points do not have a JLPT badge. These means that you would generally be expected to know the grammar if your Japanese was at that level, but the grammar point does not appear in standardized lists (which are not necessarily comprehensive).
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Kanshudo tracks your mastery (knowledge) of every kanji, word and grammar point in Japanese individually. In item searches (Kanji search, Word search and Grammar search), you will see a small circle with a number from 0 - 4 next to each item, where zero means 'no mastery' and 4 means 'absolute mastery'. A summary of your mastery data is displayed in your Kanji, Word and Grammar mastery wheels.
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:
The 138 kana are rated with usefulness K, and have a badge like this:
The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a Japanese word is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness level of , which means it is among the
most useful words in Japanese.
All words in our system
are rated from 1-12, where 1 is the most useful.
Words with a usefulness level of 9 or better are amongst the most useful 50,000 words in Japanese, and
have a colored badge in search results, eg:
Many useful words have multiple forms, and less common
forms have a badge that looks like this:
The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, 日本語能力試験) is the standard test of Japanese language ability for non-Japanese.
would first come up in level
N.
Kanshudo displays a badge indicating which level of the JLPT words, kanji and grammar points might first be used in:
indicates N5 (the first and easiest level)
indicates N1 (the highest and most difficult)
You can use Kanshudo to study for the JLPT. Kanshudo usefulness levels for kanji, words and grammar points map directly to JLPT levels, so your mastery level on Kanshudo is a direct indicator of your readiness for the JLPT exams.
Kanshudo usefulness counts up from 1, whereas the JLPT counts down from 5 - so the first JLPT level, N5, is equivalent to Kanshudo usefulness level .
The JLPT vocabulary lists were compiled by Wikipedia and Tanos from past papers. Sometimes the form listed by the sources is not the most useful form. In case of doubt, we advise you to learn the Kanshudo recommended form. Words that appear in the JLPT lists in a different form are indicated with a lighter colored 'shadow' badge, like this: .
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The pitch accent markings show you how to pronounce a word. A line underneath a kana symbol indicates low pitch, and a line above indicates high pitch. A vertical line at the end indicates the pitch of the next sound in a sentence using the word is different to the last sound of the word. The number(s) to the right of the markings show how this pitch is represented in a Japanese dictionary.
For more information, see our comprehensive guide:
Wherever you see the green star,
you can tag any kanji, word or grammar point for future reference in your
Favorites list, which is accessible from the main menu.
You can automatically create flashcards from your Favorites,
or use Quick Study to study them any time.
Wherever you see the flashcard icon,
you can automatically create a new flashcard or view flashcard status.
Flashcards can be created for any kanji, word, grammar point or example sentence on Kanshudo.
