漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
日: day, sun
Also: Japan, counter for days
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
ニチnichi · on'yomi · in compounds
- 一日いちにち1 day
- 日数にっすうa number of days
ジツjitsu · on'yomi
- 本日ほんじつtoday
ひhi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 朝日あさひmorning sun
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 二日ふつか2nd of the month, 2 days
- 一日ついたち1st of the month
- 今日きょうtoday
- 明日あしたtomorrow
- 昨日きのうyesterday
- 明後日あさってday after tomorrow
- 一昨日おとといday before yesterday
- 日本語にほんごJapanese language
Also read -び, -か, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
The sun. A dot or line was added in the centre to distinguish it from visually similar characters, e.g. 口.
Source: Wiktionary, 日 (rev. 93408319), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The life-giving sun in the sky! This simple box was once a perfect circle, representing the regular rising and setting of the sun that marks the rhythm of our lives.”
Connections
Also read ジツ
1 kanji shares this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · rì
Same form: 日 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 日 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 日 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin rì most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.