Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

絹: silk

JLPT N113 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

糸 carries the meaning · 肙 gives the sound

13 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ケンken · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 絹布けんぷsilk, silk cloth
  • 正絹しょうけんpure silk

きぬkinu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 絹きぬsilk
  • 絹糸きぬいとsilk thread
  • 絹織物きぬおりものsilk goods

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

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

Also read ケン

39 kanji share this on'yomiAll 39

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
絹 silk · 肙
vs組 association · 且
絹 has 肙 where 組 has 且.
In ChineseSimplified 绢 · traditional, as in Japanese · juàn

Japan keeps the traditional form 絹; mainland China simplifies it to 绢.

Simplified
绢 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
絹 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin juàn 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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