Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

特: special

JLPT N410 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

牛 carries the meaning · 寺 gives the sound

10 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

トクtoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 特色とくしょくcharacteristic
  • 特徴とくちょうfeature
  • 特急とっきゅうexpress train
  • 特別なとくべつなspecial
  • 特有なとくゆうなpeculiar (to)
  • 独特などくとくなunique
  • 特訓するとっくんするgive special training
  • 特集するとくしゅうするfeature (e.g. newspaper)

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 ox (meaning) + 寺 (sound)

Large bull.

Source: Wiktionary, 特 (rev. 92355986), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Cow (牛) + temple (寺). Represents a "cow" that has been chosen for a "temple" ritual—something that is "special" and set apart from the rest.”
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
寺

Also built on buddhist temple (寺)

The 寺 family reads ジ (ji); 特 is read トク.

Also read トク

8 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
特 special · 牛
vs持 hold · 扌
特 has 牛 where 持 has 扌.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · tè

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

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

Pinyin tè 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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