Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

賢: intelligent, wise

Also: wisdom, cleverness

JLPT N216 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

貝 carries the meaning · 臤 gives the sound

16 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ケンken · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 賢者けんじゃwise man, sage
  • 賢母けんぼwise mother
  • 賢明なけんめいなwise, intelligent, prudent

かしこいkashikoi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 賢いかしこいwise, clever, smart
  • 悪賢いわるがしこいcunning, crafty, wily, sly
  • ずる賢いずるがしこいsly

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Treasure the moment! This radical represents the very origins of commerce and the primal concept of wealth.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
賢 intelligent · 臤 + 貝
vs覧 perusal · 監 + 見
賢 has 臤 + 貝 where 覧 has 監 + 見.
In ChineseSimplified 贤 · traditional, as in Japanese · xián

Japan keeps the traditional form 賢; mainland China simplifies it to 贤.

Simplified
贤 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
賢 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin xián 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.