Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

描: sketch, compose

Also: write, draw, paint

JLPT N111 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

扌 carries the meaning · 苗 gives the sound

11 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ビョウbyou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 点描てんびょうsketch (using stippling)
  • 素描そびょうrough sketch
  • 線描せんびょうline drawing
  • 描写するびょうしゃするdepict, portray, describe
  • 描写びょうしゃ

えがくegaku · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 描くえがくdraw, sketch
  • 思い描くおもいえがくto imagine; to picture; to figure

かくkaku · kun'yomi

  • 絵を描くえをかくto paint a picture; to draw a picture

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

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine a hand reaching out from the left to grab, hold, or shape the world! When you see these three strokes, think of a hand in motion.”
More in the 扌 hand story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
扌

Also built on hand (扌)

All 88
苗

Also built on seedling (苗)

描 takes the 苗 family's reading, ビョウ (byou).

Also read ビョウ

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
描 sketch · 扌
vs猫 cat · ⺨
描 has 扌 where 猫 has ⺨.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · miáo

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

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

Pinyin miáo 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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