Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

育: bring up, grow up

Also: raise, rear

JLPT N38 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

亠 and 月 carry the meaning · 厶 is drawn in

8 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Today

Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Five readings, and the words that use each

イクiku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 教育するきょういくするeducate
  • 体育たいいくphysical education
  • 育児いくじchild care
  • 教育きょういく

そだつsodatsu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 育つそだつgrow (up) [v.i.]

そだちsodachi · kun'yomi

  • 育ちそだちgrowth; breeding

そだてるsodateru · kun'yomi

  • 育てるそだてるraise [v.t.]

はぐくむhagukumu · kun'yomi

  • 育むはぐくむto raise; to bring up; to rear

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

Origin · sourced

Evolved geometrically from 胄 in Han dynasty era.

Source: Wiktionary, 育 (rev. 92201437), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“It looks like the moon, but it's actually muscle! When you see this "moon" on the left side of a character, don't think of the night sky—think of your own body.”
More in the 月 meat story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
亠

Also built on lid (亠)

All 24
厶

Also built on private (厶)

All 18
月

Also built on meat (月)

All 63

育 gives its sound to

Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read イク

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
育 bring up · 亠 + 厶
vs肪 obese · 方
育 has 亠 + 厶 where 肪 has 方.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yù

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

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

Pinyin yù 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.