Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

竹: bamboo

JLPT N26 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met
6 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

チクchiku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 竹林ちくりんbamboo thicket
  • 竹馬の友ちくばのともchildhood friend

たけtake · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 竹たけbamboo
  • 竹の子たけのこbamboo shoot
  • 竹馬たけうまstilts, bamboo horse
  • 竹細工たけざいくbamboo working/crafting

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

Two bamboo stalks, with leaves. Earlier forms resembled 个 + 个, current form resembles rather ケ + ケ, or 亇 + 亇.

Source: Wiktionary, 竹 (rev. 92810007), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji for bamboo, the heart of Asian culture and a symbol of integrity and growth.”
From the 竹 bamboo story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

竹 gives its sound to

The family reading is チク (chiku). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read チク

4 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zhú

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

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

Pinyin zhú 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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