漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
甲: armor, high (voice)
Also: A grade, first class, former, instep, carapace
JLPT N15 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met
日 and 丨 carry the meaning
5 strokes
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
コウkou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 甲こうcarapace; shell
- 装甲そうこうarmoring; armouring; armor
- 甲状腺こうじょうせんthyroid (gland)
- 甲子園こうしえんKoshien Stadium (baseball park in…
カンkan · on'yomi
- 甲板かんぱん
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 甲斐かいresult (that makes an act worthwhile)
- 生き甲斐いきがいreason for living; something one lives for
Also read きのえ, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The life-giving sun in the sky! This simple box was once a perfect circle, representing the regular rising and setting of the sun that marks the rhythm of our lives.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side甲 armor
vs由 whereforeIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · jiǎ
Same form: 甲 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 甲 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 甲 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin jiǎ 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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