Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

敵: enemy, foe

Also: opponent

JLPT N115 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

攵 carries the meaning · 啇 gives the sound

15 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

テキteki · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 敵てきenemy
  • 敵意てきいhostility
  • 強敵きょうてきformidable enemy
  • 不敵なふてきなdaring, fearless
  • 素敵なすてきなlovely, beautiful
  • 敵対するてきたいするbe antagonistic

かたきkataki · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 敵かたきenemy
  • 敵討ちかたきうちrevenge
  • 商売敵しょうばいがたきbusiness rival

Also read あだ, かなう, 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

“Whack! A hand with a stick is ready to take command.”
More in the 攵 to strike story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
啇

Also built on 啇

敵 takes the 啇 family's reading, テキ (teki).

攵

Also built on to strike (攵)

All 26

Also read テキ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
敵 enemy · 攵
vs適 suitable · ⻌
敵 has 攵 where 適 has ⻌.
In ChineseSimplified 敌 · traditional, as in Japanese · dí

Japan keeps the traditional form 敵; mainland China simplifies it to 敌.

Simplified
敌 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
敵 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin dí 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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