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Components

餅 means 'mochi'

Animation / stroke order not available.

Strokes : 14 Frequency: 1937 JLPT: N1 Usefulness: 5 Study set: 5-36 Grade: 8 Intermediate lesson: - Beginner lesson: - Begins 25 words Used in 112 words Used in 63 names Not used as a component

Jōyō (常用)

Common readings

ヘイ

Kun

もち mochi

Additional readings

On ヒョウ

Kun もちい

Variants

餠 (kyujitai) 饼 (Chinese)

Notes

A Joy o' Kanji essay is available for 餅 - click the badge to download

Explore the soft, sticky confections known as mochi, discovering their use in religious rituals, their connection to the new year, and their symbolism. Also see how these sweets relate to the following statements: "She fell on her rear," "This is what they call a lucky break," "Jealousy is the enemy of friendship," and "The concept of reform has become pointless."

View in the essay collection All Joy o' Kanji essays

The essay is also included in the following Thematic Bundles

Lots of Luck

寿占亀餅

The collection reveals copious ways in which the Japanese try to usher in luck, wealth, and good harvests. They offer sacred mochi to the gods. Flattening it brings longevity, eating it on a kid's first birthday helps the child grow, and coloring mochi red repels evil. People rely on fortune telling, using everything from palms, blood types, and facial features to birth dates, dreams, and even the shape of lingering snow. Folks treat certain birthdays as auspicious, thanks to visual wordplay with kanji. Finally, because turtles symbolize luck and longevity, people use 亀 (turtle) in shop names.

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All Thematic Bundles

Components

⿰ 𩙿 (食) eat; food 并 combine

Explore these components visually on The Kanji Map ⇗

Mastery

Flashcards

Most useful words by reading

In the most useful 10,000 words in Japanese, 餅 is used 4 times, read 2 ways.

Across all words in Japanese, 餅 is used 84 times, read 3 ways (with 2 variations).

Showing: Usage across all words in Japanese Usage in the 10,000 most useful words in Japanese

ヘイ : 2 words FIND ALL

へいばん

餅盤

noun

laccolith (see also: ラコリス; geology, etc. term)

(click the word to view an additional 1 reading, examples and links)

ヘイ (read as ぺい) : 2 words FIND ALL

げっぺい

月餅

noun

mooncake; disc-shaped confection of wheat-flour dough filled with bean paste, usu. eaten during Autumn in China

(click the word for examples and links)

ヘイ (read as べい) : 1 word FIND ALL

せんべい

煎餅

noun

rice cracker; Japanese cracker; rice cookie; wafer

(click the word for examples and links)

もち : 77 words FIND ALL

もち

餅

Most common form: もち

noun

sticky rice cake (see also: 糯; often written with kana only)

(click the word to view an additional 3 readings and 2 forms, examples and links)

もちい : 2 words FIND ALL

noun

Heian-period ceremony where a newlywed groom and bride eat a rice-cake on the third night after the wedding ceremony

(click the word to view an additional 1 form, examples and links)

An additional 19 less common words include 餅 but the readings have not yet been categorized.

Quick links

QUICK SEARCH WORD SEARCH KANJI SEARCH COMPONENT SEARCH Find kanji that refer to 餅

More information

Wiktionary ⇗ | Unicode.org ⇗ | Google Japan ⇗ | Hanziyuan etymology ⇗

Additional data

Henshall: - Joy o' Kanji : 2105 Key to Kanji: -