Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

約: promise, approximately

Also: shrink

JLPT N39 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

糸 carries the meaning · 勺 is drawn in

9 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ヤクyaku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 約一年やくいちねんabout one year
  • 約束するやくそくするpromise [v.t.]
  • 予約するよやくするreserve
  • 契約するけいやくするmake a contract
  • 解約するかいやくするcancel a contract
  • 婚約するこんやくするget engaged (marriage)
  • 要約するようやくするsummarize
  • 節約するせつやくするsave, conserve
  • 先約せんやくprevious engagement

Also read つづまる, つづめる, つづまやか, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)糸 rope (meaning) + 勺 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 約 (rev. 92162413), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Everything is connected! This radical represents the invisible threads that tie us together—our relationships, the fine "silk" of our words, and the intricate weaving of our personal histories.”
More in the 糸 thread story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
糸

Also built on thread (糸)

All 71
勺

Also built on ladle (勺)

Also read ヤク

8 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
約 promise · 勺
vs級 class · 及
約 has 勺 where 級 has 及.
In ChineseSimplified 约 · traditional, as in Japanese · yuē

Japan keeps the traditional form 約; mainland China simplifies it to 约.

Simplified
约 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
約 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yuē 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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