去 — how to write the kanji for “gone”

去 means “gone”, “past” and “quit”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in third grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 440th most used kanji. KANJIDIC2 gives it 2 on readings and 2 kun readings, so the word decides how you say it. Its parts sit stacked: 土 (“soil”), strokes 1–3; 厶 (“private”, its radical), strokes 4–5, each finished before the next. Read kyo, it forms 死去 (“death”), 撤去 (“removal”) and 除去 (“removal”); the native reading sa-ru gives 置き去り (“leaving behind”) and 連れ去る (“to take (someone) away”). Chinese reads it qù, “to remove”, at HSK 1.

Strokes: 5
JLPT: N4
Radical: 厶 (“private”)
On: キョ, コ
Kun: -さ·る, さ·る

Stroke by stroke

Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑topdownwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Left-falling-turn ㇜centerdown and left → rightwards
Dot ㇔bottomdown and right

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 5 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 5 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 5 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Readings

On (Chinese-derived): キョ kyo, コ ko
Kun (native): -さ·る -sa-ru, さ·る sa-ru (rare)
Meanings: gone; past; quit; leave; elapse; eliminate
Read kyo: 死去撤去除去去年退去去就
Read sa-ru: 置き去り連れ去る去る
Read ko: 過去
School year: third grade
Newspaper rank: 440th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
Korean hanja: 거 geo
Common words: 14 in JMdict

On and kun, explained

Words with 去

Word	Reading	Meaning
過去	かこ kako	the past; bygone days
死去	しきょ shikyo	death; decease
撤去	てっきょ tekkyo	removal; taking away
除去	じょきょ jokyo	removal; getting rid of
去年	きょねん kyonen	last year
退去	たいきょ taikyo	departure; leaving
置き去り	おきざり okizari	leaving behind; desertion
去就	きょしゅう kyoshuu	leaving or staying; (one's) course of action
連れ去る	つれさる tsuresaru	to take (someone) away; to carry off
去る	さる saru	to leave; to go away

Most common first (JMdict).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.

Keep going

Same parts:

JLPT N4, in list order: