漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
東: east
JLPT N58 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
木 carries the meaning · 日 is drawn in
8 strokes
Bronze · Shang Today
Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
トウtou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 東京とうきょうTokyo
- 東部とうぶeastern part
- 東北とうほくTouhoku
- 東洋とうようEast Asia
- 東西南北とうざいなんぼくeast, west, south and north
- 関東かんとうKantou
- 中東ちゅうとうMiddle East
ひがしhigashi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 東ひがしeast
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
A pictogram of a full 橐 (“bag”) tied at both ends. It is the original form of 重: forms with a human figure gave rise to 重, while forms without it gave rise to 東.
Source: Wiktionary, 東 (rev. 93776654), 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.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
東 gives its sound to
The family reading is トウ (tou). Sound parts: KanjiVG.
In ChineseSimplified 东 · traditional, as in Japanese · dōng
Japan keeps the traditional form 東; mainland China simplifies it to 东.
- Simplified
- 东 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 東 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin dōng 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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