Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home

序: preface, beginning

Also: order, precedence, occasion, chance, incidentally

JLPT N17 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

广 carries the meaning · 予 gives the sound

7 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

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

One reading, and the words that use it

ジョjo · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 序文じょぶんpreface, foreword
  • 序曲じょきょくoverture, prelude
  • 序説じょせつintroduction
  • 序列じょれつrank, ranking order
  • 順序じゅんじょorder, sequence, procedure
  • 秩序ちつじょorder, regularity, system

Also read ついで, ついで, 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

“Build on the hillside! This radical represents practical buildings that provide shelter while leaning directly into the landscape.”
More in the 广 slant roof story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
广

Also built on slant roof (广)

All 25
予

Also built on beforehand (予)

The 予 family reads ヨ (yo); 序 is read ジョ.

Also read ジョ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
序 preface · 广
vs矛 halberd · 丿
序 has 广 where 矛 has 丿.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xù

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

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

Pinyin xù 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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