Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence

乳: milk, breasts

JLPT N28 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

乙 carries the meaning · 孚 is drawn in

8 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ニュウnyuu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 牛乳ぎゅうにゅう(cow's) milk
  • 母乳ぼにゅうmother's milk
  • 乳牛にゅうぎゅうdairy cattle
  • 乳児にゅうじinfant
  • 乳歯にゅうしmilk (baby) tooth

ちちchichi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 乳ちちmilk, breast

ちchi · kun'yomi

  • 乳房ちぶさbreast

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

A kneeling woman holding and breastfeeding a child. The woman resembles the character 母.

Source: Wiktionary, 乳 (rev. 93664179), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Bird/sprout (乙) + claw + child. Originally depicted a mother bird (using its "claw") feeding "milk" or nourishment to its "child" during its early growth (乙).”
From the 乙 the second story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
孚

Also built on 孚

乙

Also built on the second (乙)

All 8

Also read ニュウ

2 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
乳 milk · 乙
vs浮 floating · 氵
乳 has 乙 where 浮 has 氵.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · rǔ

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

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

Pinyin rǔ 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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