Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

岩: boulder, rock

Also: cliff

JLPT N28 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met

山 carries the meaning · 石 is drawn in

8 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

ガンgan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 岩石がんせきrock [n.]
  • 岩塩がんえんrock salt
  • 火山岩かざんがんvolcanic rock, igneous rock
  • 溶岩ようがんlava
  • 岩盤がんばんbedrock

いわiwa · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 岩いわrock, crag
  • 岩山いわやまrocky mountain
  • 岩間いわまamong rocks

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · 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)山 hill + 石 rock

Source: Wiktionary, 岩 (rev. 92200366), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Mountain (山) + stone (石). The "stones" found high up on a "mountain"—the standard kanji for a large "rock" or boulder.”
From the 山 mountain story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
山

Also built on mountain (山)

All 28
石

Also built on stone (石)

All 20

Also read ガン

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
岩 boulder · 山
vs拓 clear (the land) · 扌
岩 has 山 where 拓 has 扌.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yán

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

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

Pinyin yán 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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