Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence

兵: soldier, private

Also: troops, army, warfare, strategy, tactics

JLPT N27 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

八 carries the meaning · 丘 is drawn in

7 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ヘイhei · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 兵士へいしsoldier
  • 兵隊へいたいsoldier, sailor
  • 兵役へいえきmilitary service, conscription
  • 兵器へいきarms, weapons, ordinance
  • 騎兵隊きへいたいcavalry
  • 核兵器かくへいきnuclear weapons
  • 志願兵しがんへいvolunteer soldier
  • 徴兵するちょうへいするdraft, enlist

ヒョウhyou · on'yomi

  • 兵糧ひょうろうprovisions, food

Also read つわもの, 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

Ideogrammic compound (會意)斤 a short axe + 廾 2 hands

A pair of hands holding a weapon. Unrelated to 丘.

Source: Wiktionary, 兵 (rev. 92199960), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Split it right down the middle! This radical carries the energy of division and the clarity of separation.”
More in the 八 eight story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
丘

Also built on hill (丘)

八

Also built on eight (八)

All 23

Also read ヘイ

15 kanji share this on'yomiAll 15

Also read ヒョウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
兵 soldier · 八
vs岳 point · 山
兵 has 八 where 岳 has 山.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · bīng

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

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

Pinyin bīng 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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