Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

血: blood

JLPT N26 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
6 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ケツketsu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 血液けつえきblood
  • 血管けっかんblood vessel
  • 血圧けつあつblood pressure
  • 血統書けっとうしょa pedigree
  • 貧血ひんけつanemia
  • 出血するしゅっけつするbleed [v.i.]
  • 輸血するゆけつするgive a blood transfusion
  • 献血するけんけつするdonate blood

ちchi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 血ちblood, consanguinity
  • 血眼ちまなこbloodshot eyes, frantic
  • 血塗れちまみれbloodstained, bloody
  • 鼻血はなぢnosebleed

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogrammic compound (會意)一 drop of blood + 皿 container

Source: Wiktionary, 血 (rev. 93374847), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji representing the life-sustaining fluid and the concept of "blood relations" or lineage.”
From the 血 blood story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
皿

Also built on plate (皿)

All 8

Also read ケツ

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
血 blood
vs孟 chief · 子
孟 adds 子.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xuè

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

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

Pinyin xuè 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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