Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

磁: magnet, porcelain

JLPT N114 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

石 carries the meaning · 兹 gives the sound

14 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ジji · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 磁石じしゃくmagnet
  • 磁力じりょくmagnetism, magnetic force
  • 磁気じきmagnetism
  • 磁場じばmagnetic field
  • 磁極じきょくmagnetic pole
  • 磁器じきporcelain, china
  • 電磁波でんじはelectromagnetic waves

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)石 rock; stone (meaning) + 兹 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 磁 (rev. 91956929), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Stone (石) + thread/continuity (兹). Originally referred to a "stone" (lodestone) that has a strange, invisible "thread-like" attraction—representing magnets and fine pottery.”
From the 石 stone story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
石

Also built on stone (石)

All 20
兹

Also built on 兹

磁 takes the 兹 family's reading, ジ (ji).

Also read ジ

27 kanji share this on'yomiAll 27

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
磁 magnet · 石
vs滋 nourishing · 氵
磁 has 石 where 滋 has 氵.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cí

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

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

Pinyin cí 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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