Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

起: rouse, wake up

Also: get up

JLPT N410 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

走 carries the meaning · 己 gives the sound

10 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Three readings, and the words that use each

キki · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 起床するきしょうするget out of bed
  • 提起するていきするraise (a question/demand)
  • 起訴するきそするprosecute

おきるokiru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 起きるおきるget up, happen [v.i.]
  • 早起きするはやおきするwake up early

おこすokosu · kun'yomi

  • 起こすおこすwake someone, cause [v.t.]

Also read おこる, おこす, たつ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)走 (meaning) + 巳 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 起 (rev. 92737700), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Run radical + snake/self (巳) = imagine a snake or a person suddenly 'running' up from the ground into an upright, active position.”
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
起 rouse · 己
vs赳 strong and brave · 丨
起 has 己 where 赳 has 丨.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · qǐ

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

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

Pinyin qǐ 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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