Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence

一: one, one radical (no.1)

JLPT N51 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met
1 stroke
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

イチichi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 一年生いちねんせいfirst-year student
  • 一番いちばんnumber one
  • 一度いちどonce
  • 一杯いっぱいone cup of, a lot of
  • 一緒いっしょtogether
  • 一分いっぷんone minute
  • 一枚いちまいone (flat object)

ひとつhitotsu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 一つひとつone (object)

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 一人ひとりone person

Also read イツ, ひと-, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogram (指事)

Source: Wiktionary, 一 (rev. 93934800), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji for the number one—representing the simplest unit and the start of all counting.”
From the 一 one story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Also read イチ

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Also read イツ

3 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yī

Same form: 一 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
一 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
一 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yī most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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