工 — how to write the kanji for “craft”
工 means “craft”, “construction” and “katakana e radical”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 299th most used kanji. KanjiVG finds it inside 98 other kanji, 左 (“left”), 空 (“empty”) and 試 (“test”) among them. Its common words take the reading kou: 工場 (“factory”), 工事 (“construction work”), 工業 (“(manufacturing) industry”) and 工作 (“handicraft”). Chinese reads it gōng, “work”, at HSK 1.
- Strokes
- 3
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 工 (“craft”)
- On
- コウ, ク, グ
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 3 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
工 inside other kanji
KanjiVG count: 98 kanji.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- コウ kou, ク ku, グ gu (rare)
- Kun (native)
- none
- Meanings
- craft; construction; katakana e radical
- Read kou
- 工場 工事 工業 工作 人工 加工
- Read ku
- 工夫 大工
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 299th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 공 gong
- Common words
- 40 in JMdict
Words with 工
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 工場 | こうじょう koujou | factory; plant |
| 工事 | こうじ kouji | construction work |
| 工業 | こうぎょう kougyou | (manufacturing) industry |
| 工作 | こうさく kousaku | handicraft; work |
| 人工 | じんこう jinkou | artificial; man-made |
| 加工 | かこう kakou | manufacturing; processing |
| 工夫 | くふう kufuu | devising (a way); contriving |
| 工学 | こうがく kougaku | engineering |
| 商工 | しょうこう shoukou | commerce and industry |
| 大工 | だいく daiku | carpenter |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
JLPT N4, in list order: