Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

克: overcome, kindly

Also: skillfully

JLPT N17 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

古 and 兄 are drawn in

7 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

コクkoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 克服こくふくconquest (of a difficulty, illness, crisis…
  • 克明こくめいdetailed; scrupulous; careful
  • 相克そうこくrivalry (between two irreconcilable forces)
  • 下克上げこくじょうjuniors dominating seniors

Also read かつ, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Stand tall on your own two feet! This radical represents the physical foundation of a person—their legs and their incredible ability to walk, stand firm, and move through the world.”
More in the 儿 human legs story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
古

Also built on old (古)

兄

Also built on elder brother (兄)

Also read コク

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
克 overcome · 兄
vs故 happenstance · 攵
克 has 兄 where 故 has 攵.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kè

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

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

Pinyin kè 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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