Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

油: oil, fat

JLPT N28 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

氵 carries the meaning · 由 gives the sound

8 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

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

Two readings, and the words that use each

ユyu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 油脂ゆしfat, fats and oils
  • 石油せきゆoil, petroleum, kerosene
  • 灯油とうゆlamp oil, kerosene
  • 醤油しょうゆsoy sauce
  • 潤滑油じゅんかつゆlubricating oil
  • 油断するゆだんするneglect, relax one's guard

あぶらabura · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 油あぶらoil
  • 油絵あぶらえoil painting

Also read ユウ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine three raindrops falling—that's sanzui! Whenever you see these three dots on the left side of a kanji, think of water, liquids, or anything that flows.”
More in the 氵 water story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
氵

Also built on water (氵)

All 125
由

Also built on wherefore (由)

14 in all

油 takes the 由 family's reading, ユ (yu).

Also read ユ

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ユウ

26 kanji share this on'yomiAll 26

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
油 oil · 由
vs泊 overnight stay · 白
油 has 由 where 泊 has 白.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yóu

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

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

Pinyin yóu 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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