Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

死: death, die

JLPT N46 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

歹 carries the meaning · 匕 is drawn in

6 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

シshi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 死去しきょdeath
  • 死刑しけいdeath penalty
  • 死後しごafter death
  • 死体したいcorpse
  • 脳死のうしbrain death
  • 必死にひっしにdesperately
  • 死亡するしぼうするdie
  • 殉死するじゅんしするdie a martyr
  • 戦死するせんしするdie in war
  • 即死するそくしするdie instantly

しぬshinu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 死ぬしぬdie

Also read しに-, with no example words in our sources. 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)歹 (meaning) + 尸 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 死 (rev. 93737680), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Bone (歹) + a person (ヒ/人). The literal and powerful representation of a "person" reaching the state of being a "bone"—the absolute definition of death.”
From the 歹 death story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
歹

Also built on death (歹)

All 5
匕

Also built on spoon (匕)

All 9

Also read シ

63 kanji share this on'yomiAll 63

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
死 death · 匕
vs列 file · 刂
死 has 匕 where 列 has 刂.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · sǐ

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

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

Pinyin sǐ 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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