Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

材: lumber, log

Also: timber, wood, materials, ingredients, talent

JLPT N27 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

木 carries the meaning · 才 gives the sound

7 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ザイzai · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 教材きょうざいteaching materials
  • 木材もくざいlumber, timber
  • 人材じんざいman of talent
  • 素材そざいraw materials
  • 材料ざいりょうingredients
  • 材質ざいしつquality of material
  • 取材するしゅざいするgather material (for news story)

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)木 (meaning) + 才 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 材 (rev. 94634313), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Stand before a great, ancient tree and see 木! The vertical line is the sturdy trunk, the top strokes are branches reaching for the sunlight, and the bottom strokes are the roots gripping the earth.”
More in the 木 tree story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
木

Also built on tree (木)

All 124
才

Also built on genius (才)

材 takes the 才 family's reading, ザイ (zai).

Also read ザイ

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
材 lumber · 木 + 才
vs抹 rub · 扌 + 末
材 has 木 + 才 where 抹 has 扌 + 末.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cái

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

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

Pinyin cái 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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