Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence

夢: dream, vision

Also: illusion

JLPT N313 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

艹 and 夕 carry the meaning · 罒 and 冖 are drawn in

13 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Today

Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ムmu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 夢中でむちゅうでbe absorbed, be engrossed
  • 夢想家むそうかdreamer
  • 悪夢あくむnightmare

ゆめyume · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 夢ゆめdream [n.]
  • 初夢はつゆめfirst dream of the year
  • 正夢まさゆめdream that comes true

Also read ボウ, ゆめみる, くらい, 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

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“As the sun sets... Imagine the soft, orange glow of twilight as the first sliver of the moon appears.”
More in the 夕 evening story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
艹

Also built on grass (艹)

All 74
罒

Also built on eye (罒)

All 13
冖

Also built on cover (冖)

All 21
夕

Also built on evening (夕)

All 6

Also read ム

8 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ボウ

31 kanji share this on'yomiAll 31

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
夢 dream · 冖 + 夕
vs蔑 ignore · 戍
夢 has 冖 + 夕 where 蔑 has 戍.
In ChineseSimplified 梦 · traditional, as in Japanese · mèng

Japan keeps the traditional form 夢; mainland China simplifies it to 梦.

Simplified
梦 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
夢 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin mèng 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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