Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

粉: flour, powder

Also: dust

JLPT N210 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

米 carries the meaning · 分 gives the sound

10 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

フンfun · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 粉末ふんまつfine powder
  • 粉乳ふんにゅうpowdered milk
  • 粉飾ふんしょくmakeup
  • 製粉せいふんmilling, grinding into flour
  • 花粉かふんpollen
  • 鉄粉てっぷんiron powder
  • 金粉きんぷんgold dust
  • 澱粉でんぷんstarch

こko · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 小麦粉こむぎこwheat flour

こなkona · kun'yomi

  • 粉こなpowder
  • 粉薬こなぐすりpowdered medicine
  • 粉々こなごなin very small pieces

Also read デシメートル, 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)米 rice (meaning) + 分 (sound)

Face powder made of rice.

Source: Wiktionary, 粉 (rev. 92691439), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Rice (米) + divide/parts (分). To "divide" and grind raw "rice" grains into tiny, microscopic "parts"—the literal definition of powder or flour.”
From the 米 rice story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
米

Also built on rice (米)

All 17
分

Also built on part (分)

粉 takes the 分 family's reading, フン (fun).

Also read フン

8 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
粉 flour · 米 + 分
vs釈 explanation · 釆 + 尺
粉 has 米 + 分 where 釈 has 釆 + 尺.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · fěn

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

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

Pinyin fěn most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

One click tells us. No sign-up.