Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

棺: coffin, casket

JLPT N112 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

木 carries the meaning · 官 gives the sound

12 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

カンkan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 棺かんcoffin; casket
  • 石棺せっかんsarcophagus; stone coffin
  • 出棺しゅっかんcarrying out a coffin; funeral procession

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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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
官

Also built on bureaucrat (官)

棺 takes the 官 family's reading, カン (kan).

Also read カン

51 kanji share this on'yomiAll 51

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
棺 coffin · 木
vs管 pipe · 竹
棺 has 木 where 管 has 竹.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · guān

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

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

Pinyin guān 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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