Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

暗: darkness, disappear

Also: shade, informal, grow dark, be blinded

JLPT N313 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

日 carries the meaning · 音 gives the sound

13 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

アンan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 暗黒あんこくdarkness
  • 暗号あんごうcode, password
  • 暗室あんしつdark room
  • 暗黙あんもくtacit, implicit
  • 暗算あんざんmental arithmetic
  • 明暗めいあんlight and darkness
  • 暗殺するあんさつするassassinate
  • 暗示するあんじするhint, suggest
  • 暗記するあんきするmemorize, learn

くらいkurai · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 暗いくらいdark, gloomy

Also read くらむ, くれる, 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

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)日 sun (meaning) + 音 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 暗 (rev. 92161514), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Sun (日) + sound (音). The state where the "sun" has gone down and only "sounds" can be heard in the "darkness"—the absence of light.”
From the 立 to stand story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
日

Also built on sun (日)

All 70
音

Also built on sound (音)

All 5

The 音 sound family doesn't share one reading.

Also read アン

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
暗 darkness · 日
vs章 badge · 早
暗 has 日 where 章 has 早.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · àn

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

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

Pinyin àn 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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