Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home

部: section, bureau

Also: dept, class, copy, part, portion, counter for copies of a newspaper or magazine

JLPT N311 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

⻏ carries the meaning · 咅 gives the sound

11 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ブbu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 部ぶsection, category, department
  • 部分ぶぶんportion
  • 部長ぶちょうhead of a section or department
  • 部下ぶかsubordinate person
  • 全部ぜんぶall
  • 北部ほくぶnorthern part
  • 内部ないぶinside, interior, inward
  • 学部がくぶdepartment of a university
  • 営業部えいぎょうぶsales department

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

  • 阿部あべAbe (surname)
  • 部屋へやroom

Also read -べ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)咅 (sound) + 邑 (meaning)

It originally refers to a place in today's Gansu.

Source: Wiktionary, 部 (rev. 93768642), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Welcome to the village! This "big town" radical brings the feeling of community, borders, and organized civilization to a kanji.”
More in the ⻏ village story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
咅

Also built on 咅

The 咅 family reads バイ (bai); 部 is read ブ.

⻏

Also built on village (⻏)

All 13

Also read ブ

13 kanji share this on'yomiAll 13

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
部 section · ⻏
vs陪 obeisance · ⻖
部 has ⻏ where 陪 has ⻖.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · bù

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

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

Pinyin bù 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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