Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Tools & Weapons

北: north

JLPT N55 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
5 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ホクhoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 北部ほくぶnorthern part
  • 北欧ほくおうNorthern Europe
  • 東北とうほくTouhoku
  • 北海道ほっかいどうHokkaido
  • 敗北するはいぼくするbe defeated
  • 南北なんぼくsouth and north

きたkita · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 北きたnorth
  • 北風きたかぜnorth wind
  • 北半球きたはんきゅうnorthern hemisphere

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)

Two men back to back. Originally meaning “back”; the character 背 refers to the original word.

Source: Wiktionary, 北 (rev. 93448149), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Two people (匕 variant) back to back. While it looks like spoons, it represents two people turning away from each other to face the "cold" direction of the north.”
From the 匕 spoon story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
匕

Also built on spoon (匕)

All 9

北 gives its sound to

Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ホク

1 kanji shares this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · běi

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

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

Pinyin běi 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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