漢字Kanji · in Tools & Weapons
干: dry, parch
Also: ebb, recede, interfere, intercede
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Four readings, and the words that use each
カンkan · on'yomi · in compounds
- 干満かんまんebb and flow (of a tide)
- 干潮かんちょうebb tide
- 若干じゃっかんsome, a few [n., adv.]
- 干渉するかんしょうするinterfere, intervene
- 干拓するかんたくするreclaim land
ほすhosu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 干すほすdry, drain
-ぼし-boshi · kun'yomi
- 梅干しうめぼしdried plum
ひるhiru · kun'yomi
- 干るひるdry [v.i.]
- 干上がるひあがるdry up, parch
- 潮干狩りしおひがりshell gathering (at low tide)
Also read ほし-, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
Pictogram (象形) of a shield with feather ornaments on top; in some versions in oracle bones, the central and flat part of the shield can be seen as 回.
Source: Wiktionary, 干 (rev. 92200412), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base kanji for "drying" something (like laundry) in the sun or the feeling of being thirsty and "parched."”
Connections
干 gives its sound to
The family reading is カン (kan). Sound parts: KanjiVG.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · gàn
Same form: 干 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 干 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 干 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin gàn most common reading
False friend. In simplified Chinese, 干 also stands for 乾 (drought, dry) and 幹 (tree trunk, main part), which Japanese writes as separate kanji.
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.