漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
灯: lamp, a light
Also: light, counter for lights
JLPT N26 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met
火 carries the meaning · 丁 gives the sound
6 strokes
Two readings, and the words that use each
トウtou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 灯火とうかlight
- 灯台とうだいlighthouse
- 灯油とうゆlamp oil, kerosene
- 電灯でんとうelectric light
- 街灯がいとうstreet light
- 消灯しょうとうputting out the lights
- 蛍光灯けいこうとうfluorescent lamp
ひhi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 灯ひlight [n.]
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 提灯ちょうちんpaper lantern
Also read ほ-, ともしび, ともす, あかり, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)火 candlelight (meaning) + 登 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 燈 (rev. 93186072), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Fire that provides light”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
丁
Also built on street (丁)
The 丁 family reads チョウ (chou); 灯 is read トウ.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side灯 lamp · 丁
vs灰 ashes · 厂In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 燈 · dēng
Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 灯. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 燈.
- Simplified
- 灯 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 燈 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin dēng 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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