漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
歌: song, sing
JLPT N414 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
- 哥(sound)
- 欠to lack(meaning)
欠 carries the meaning · 哥 gives the sound
14 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
カka · on'yomi · in compounds
- 歌手かしゅsinger
- 歌詞かしsong lyrics
- 歌舞伎かぶきJapanese classical drama
- 国歌こっかnational anthem
- 和歌わかJapanese poem
- 短歌たんか31-syllable Japanese poem
うたuta · kun'yomi · on its own
- 歌うたsong
うたうutau · kun'yomi
- 歌ううたうsing
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)哥 (sound) + 欠 blow (meaning)
Specialized form of 哥 (“to sing”).
Source: Wiktionary, 歌 (rev. 92200867), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Can (可) + yawn/mouth open (欠). To sing is to open your mouth wide and let out a melody that "can" be heard by everyone.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · gē
Same form: 歌 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 歌 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 歌 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin gē 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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