Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

緊: tense, solid

Also: hard, reliable, tight

JLPT N115 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

糸 carries the meaning · 臤 gives the sound

15 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

キンkin · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 緊急なきんきゅうなurgent, pressing
  • 緊密なきんみつなclose
  • 緊迫するきんぱくするbecome tense, grow strained
  • 緊張するきんちょうするget tense, be strained
  • 緊急きんきゅう
  • 緊張きんちょう
  • 緊密きんみつ
  • 緊迫きんぱく

Also read しめる, しまる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
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
臤

Also built on 臤

The 臤 family reads ケン (ken); 緊 is read キン.

糸

Also built on thread (糸)

All 71

Also read キン

25 kanji share this on'yomiAll 25

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
緊 tense · 臤 + 糸
vs腎 kidney · 臣 + 又 + 月
緊 has 臤 + 糸 where 腎 has 臣 + 又 + 月.
In ChineseSimplified 紧 · traditional, as in Japanese · jǐn

Japan keeps the traditional form 緊; mainland China simplifies it to 紧.

Simplified
紧 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
緊 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin jǐn 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.