Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

禅: Zen, silent meditation

JLPT N113 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

礻 carries the meaning · 単 gives the sound

13 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ゼンzen · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 禅ぜんdhyana (profound meditation)
  • 禅寺ぜんでらZen temple
  • 座禅ざぜん
  • 禅宗ぜんしゅうZen (Buddhism)
  • 禅僧ぜんそうZen priest
  • 禅譲ぜんじょうabdication (of a Chinese emperor) in favor…

Also read セン, しずか, ゆずる, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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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
単

Also built on simple (単)

The 単 family reads タン (tan); 禅 is read ゼン、セン.

Also read ゼン

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read セン

38 kanji share this on'yomiAll 38

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
禅 Zen · 礻
vs戦 war · 戈
禅 has 礻 where 戦 has 戈.
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 禪 · chán

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

Simplified
禅 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
禪 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin chán 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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