Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

胡: barbarian, foreign

JLPT N19 strokesName kanji (jinmeiyō)Your ink: 白 Not met

月 carries the meaning · 古 is drawn in

9 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

コko · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 胡こbarbarian tribes surrounding ancient China

ゴgo · on'yomi

  • 胡麻ごまsesame seeds

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 胡桃くるみwalnut (Juglans spp., esp. Juglans regia)

Also read ウ, なんぞ, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

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
古

Also built on old (古)

月

Also built on meat (月)

All 63

胡 gives its sound to

The family reading is コ (ko). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ウ

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read コ

27 kanji share this on'yomiAll 27

Also read ゴ

20 kanji share this on'yomiAll 20

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
胡 barbarian · 古
vs胎 womb · 台
胡 has 古 where 胎 has 台.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · hú

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

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

Pinyin hú 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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