Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

福: blessing, fortune

Also: luck, wealth

JLPT N313 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

礻 carries the meaning · 畐 gives the sound

13 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

フクfuku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 福岡ふくおかFukuoka
  • 福利ふくりwelfare
  • 福祉ふくしsocial welfare
  • 祝福するしゅくふくするbless
  • 幸福なこうふくなhappy, blessed
  • 裕福なゆうふくなaffluent

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)示 (meaning) + 畐 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 福 (rev. 92201230), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Altar/gods (礻) + a full jar (畐). A "blessing" where the jar (of wine or grain) on the "altar" is completely full—the true image of "good luck."”
From 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
畐

Also built on 畐

福 takes the 畐 family's reading, フク (fuku).

Also read フク

9 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
福 blessing · 礻
vs富 wealth · 宀
福 has 礻 where 富 has 宀.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · fú

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

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

Pinyin fú 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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