Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

吉: good luck, joy

Also: congratulations

JLPT N16 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

士 and 口 carry the meaning

6 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

キチkichi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 吉兆きっちょう
  • 大吉だいきちexcellent luck (esp. in fortune-telling)
  • 吉報きっぽうgood news
  • 吉祥天きっしょうてんSri-mahadevi (consort of Vaishravana)

キツkitsu · on'yomi

  • 不吉ふきつominous; sinister; unlucky

Also read よし, 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

Origin · sourced

Ideogrammic compound (會意)

Originally 圭 and 口 in the oracle bone script. The top component mutated into 士 in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions.

Source: Wiktionary, 吉 (rev. 93552323), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Samurai (士) + mouth (口). Originally referred to the wise "words" spoken by a high-ranking "scholar," which were considered a sign of "good luck" and great joy.”
From the 士 man story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
士

Also built on man (士)

All 8
口

Also built on mouth (口)

All 108

吉 gives its sound to

The family reading is キチ (kichi). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read キチ

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Also read キツ

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
吉 good luck · 士
vs古 old · 十
吉 has 士 where 古 has 十.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · jí

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

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

Pinyin jí 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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