Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home

客: guest, visitor

Also: customer, client

JLPT N39 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

宀 carries the meaning · 各 gives the sound

9 strokes
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

キャクkyaku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 客きゃくguest, customer
  • 客席きゃくせきseat (e.g. theater)
  • 来客らいきゃくvisitor
  • 乗客じょうきゃくpassenger
  • 観光客かんこうきゃくtourist
  • 客観的なきゃっかんてきなobjective [adj.]

カクkaku · on'yomi

  • 刺客しかくassassin

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)宀 roof (meaning) + 各 (sound)

A guest.

Source: Wiktionary, 客 (rev. 93635077), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Under one roof! Imagine the safety and warmth of a sturdy house at the end of a long day.”
More in the 宀 roof story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
宀

Also built on roof (宀)

All 41
各

Also built on each (各)

客 takes the 各 family's reading, カク (kaku).

客 gives its sound to

The family reading is カク (kaku). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read キャク

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read カク

19 kanji share this on'yomiAll 19

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
客 guest · 宀
vs格 status · 木
客 has 宀 where 格 has 木.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kè

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

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

Pinyin kè 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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