Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

勉: exertion, endeavour

Also: encourage, strive, make effort, diligent

JLPT N410 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

力 carries the meaning · 免 gives the sound

10 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

ベンben · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 勉強するべんきょうするstudy
  • 勤勉なきんべんなdiligent
  • 勉強べんきょう
  • 勤勉きんべん
  • 勉学べんがくstudy; pursuit of knowledge
  • 勉強中べんきょうちゅうwhile studying; presently studying

Also read つとめる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · 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

“Flex your arm and feel the power! That's 力, representing the raw muscle and effort required to change the world.”
More in the 力 power story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
免

Also built on excuse (免)

The 免 sound family doesn't share one reading.

力

Also built on power (力)

All 21

Also read ベン

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
勉 exertion · 力
vs逸 deviate · ⻌
勉 has 力 where 逸 has ⻌.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · miǎn

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

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

Pinyin miǎn 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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