Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

柳: willow

JLPT N19 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

木 carries the meaning · 卯 gives the sound

9 strokes
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

リュウryuu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 川柳せんりゅうsenryū; comic haiku
  • 花柳かりゅうred-light district
  • 花柳界かりゅうかいred-light district; pleasure quarters

やなぎyanagi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 柳やなぎwillow (any tree of genus Salix)
  • 柳刃包丁やなぎばぼうちょうkitchen knife for sashimi

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 青柳あおやぎgreen willow (i.e. one that has budded)

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

“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
卯

Also built on sign of the hare or rabbit (卯)

The 卯 family reads ボウ (bou); 柳 is read リュウ.

Also read リュウ

9 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
柳 willow · 木
vs昴 the Pleiades · 日
柳 has 木 where 昴 has 日.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · liǔ

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

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

Pinyin liǔ 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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