Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

備: equip, provision

Also: preparation

JLPT N312 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

亻 carries the meaning · 艹, 厂 and 用 are drawn in

12 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Three readings, and the words that use each

ビbi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 準備じゅんびpreparation
  • 予備よびspare
  • 軍備ぐんびarmament
  • 設備せつびfacilities
  • 防備ぼうびdefensive preparation
  • 準備するじゅんびするprepare
  • 警備するけいびするguard

そなえるsonaeru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 備えるそなえるget equipped, get ready

そなわるsonawaru · kun'yomi

  • 備わるそなわるbe equipped

Also read つぶさに, 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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)

Source: Wiktionary, 備 (rev. 89682483), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“A person (人) + grass/herb (艹) + to use (用). To provide a "person" with all the essential "tools" and materials they can "use" to be fully and expertly prepared.”
From the 用 to use story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
亻

Also built on person (亻)

All 103
艹

Also built on grass (艹)

All 74
厂

Also built on cliff (厂)

All 17
用

Also built on to use (用)

All 2

Also read ビ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
備 equip · 亻 + 艹 + 厂
vs庸 commonplace · 广 + ⺕
備 has 亻 + 艹 + 厂 where 庸 has 广 + ⺕.
In ChineseSimplified 备 · traditional, as in Japanese · bèi

Japan keeps the traditional form 備; mainland China simplifies it to 备.

Simplified
备 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
備 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin bèi 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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