Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

種: species, kind

Also: class, variety, seed

JLPT N314 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

禾 carries the meaning · 重 gives the sound

14 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

シュshu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 人種じんしゅrace (of people)
  • 職種しょくしゅoccupational category
  • 業種ぎょうしゅtype of industry
  • 品種ひんしゅbrand, kind
  • 各種かくしゅeach kind
  • 一種いっしゅone variety, one class
  • 種子しゅしseed

たねtane · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 種たねseed

Also read -ぐさ, with no example words in our sources. 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)禾 (meaning) + 重 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 種 (rev. 92458268), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The harvest is ready! Imagine a field of golden rice bowing its head in the autumn breeze.”
More in the 禾 grain story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
禾

Also built on grain (禾)

All 32
重

Also built on heavy (重)

The 重 family reads ドウ (dou); 種 is read シュ.

Also read シュ

27 kanji share this on'yomiAll 27

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
種 species · 禾
vs腫 tumor · 月
種 has 禾 where 腫 has 月.
In ChineseSimplified 种 · traditional, as in Japanese · zhǒng

Japan keeps the traditional form 種; mainland China simplifies it to 种.

Simplified
种 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
種 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin zhǒng 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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