Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Communication & Thought

言: say, word

JLPT N47 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
7 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Four readings, and the words that use each

ゲンgen · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 断言するだんげんするassert
  • 証言するしょうげんするtestify
  • 言語学げんごがくlinguistics
  • 方言ほうげんdialect

ゴンgon · on'yomi

  • 伝言するでんごんするleave a message
  • 無言むごんsilence

いうiu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 言ういうsay

ことkoto · kun'yomi

  • 言葉ことばword(s), language
  • 一言ひとことsingle word
  • 独り言ひとりごとsoliloquy
  • 寝言ねごとtalk in one's sleep

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogram (指事)

From 口 and ▽(possibly original form of 弋, marking location). Later: from 口 and 辛 or 䇂 (possibly mixed with 舌).

Source: Wiktionary, 言 (rev. 93383581), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji for speech: a mouth (口) with the lines of the voice rising above it. Read いう (to say) and こと (word), as in 言葉 (ことば, words).”
From the 言 words story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
口

Also built on mouth (口)

All 108

Also read ゲン

17 kanji share this on'yomiAll 17

Also read ゴン

7 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yán

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

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

Pinyin yán 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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