Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

尼: nun

JLPT N15 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

尸 carries the meaning · 匕 is drawn in

5 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

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

Two readings, and the words that use each

ニni · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 尼僧にそうBuddhist nun
  • 僧尼そうにmonks and nuns

あまama · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 尼あまBuddhist nun

Words: 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

“Lie down and cover up! This radical has two lives: it can represent the stillness of a body or the protection of a roof.”
More in the 尸 corpse story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
尸

Also built on corpse (尸)

All 18
匕

Also built on spoon (匕)

All 9

尼 gives its sound to

The family reading is ニ (ni). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ニ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
尼 nun · 匕
vs尻 buttocks · 九
尼 has 匕 where 尻 has 九.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · ní

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

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

Pinyin ní 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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