Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

曹: office, official

Also: comrade, fellow

JLPT N111 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

日 carries the meaning · 曲 is drawn in

11 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Today

Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ソウsou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 法曹ほうそうlegal profession; judicial officer; lawyer
  • 軍曹ぐんそうsergeant
  • 法曹界ほうそうかいlegal circles

ゾウzou · on'yomi

  • 御曹司おんぞうしson of a distinguished family

Words: 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

“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.”
More in the 日 sun story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
曲

Also built on bend (曲)

日

Also built on sun (日)

All 70

曹 gives its sound to

The family reading is ソウ (sou). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ソウ

56 kanji share this on'yomiAll 56

Also read ゾウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
曹 office · 日
vs豊 bountiful · 豆
曹 has 日 where 豊 has 豆.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cáo

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

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

Pinyin cáo 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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