Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

鼻: nose, snout

JLPT N214 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

自 carries the meaning · 畀 gives the sound

14 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone and 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

ビbi · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 鼻炎びえんnasal inflammation
  • 鼻音びおんnasal sound
  • 耳鼻科じびかotolaryngology

はなhana · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 鼻はなnose
  • 鼻水はなみずmucus
  • 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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)自 nose (meaning) + 畀 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 鼻 (rev. 93606002), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The base kanji for the organ of smell, representing the "self" (自) that breathes in the air of the world.”
From the 鼻 nose story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
自

Also built on self (自)

All 5

Also read ビ

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

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

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

Pinyin bí 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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