Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

物: thing, object

Also: matter

JLPT N48 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

牛 carries the meaning · 勿 gives the sound

8 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ブツbutsu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 動物園どうぶつえんzoo
  • 物価ぶっかcost of living
  • 物理ぶつりphysics
  • 見物するけんぶつするgo sightseeing

モツmotsu · on'yomi

  • 荷物にもつluggage

ものmono · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 物ものthing
  • 建物たてものbuilding
  • 食べ物たべものfood
  • 買い物かいものshopping
  • 乗り物のりものvehicle
  • 着物きものkimono
  • 贈り物おくりものgift

Also read もの-, 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)牛 (meaning) + 勿 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 物 (rev. 93809297), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Cow/livestock (牛 variant) + color/variety. Originally suggested a "variety" of "cattle" or livestock—now the general word for any "thing" or object.”
From the 牛 cow story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
牛

Also built on cow (牛)

All 8
勿

Also built on 勿

Also read ブツ

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Also read モツ

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
物 thing · 牛
vs易 easy · 日
物 has 牛 where 易 has 日.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · wù

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

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

Pinyin wù 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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