Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

礼: salute, bow

Also: ceremony, thanks, remuneration

JLPT N35 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

礻 carries the meaning · 乙 gives the sound

5 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

レイrei · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 失礼するしつれいするbe impolite
  • 礼儀れいぎcourtesy
  • 謝礼しゃれいreward
  • お礼おれいappreciation, gratitude
  • 婚礼こんれいmarriage ceremony
  • 礼金れいきんfinder's fee, reward

ライrai · on'yomi

  • 礼賛するらいさんするpraise

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“A blessing on the left! When the altar "steps aside" to the left, it brings the protection of the gods to the character.”
More in the 礻 altar story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
礻

Also built on altar (礻)

All 14
乙

Also built on the second (乙)

All 8

The 乙 sound family doesn't share one reading.

Also read レイ

19 kanji share this on'yomiAll 19

Also read ライ

6 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 禮 · lǐ

Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 礼. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 禮.

Simplified
礼 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
禮 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin lǐ 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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