心 — how to write the kanji for “heart”
心 means “heart”, “mind” and “spirit”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 157th most used kanji. As one of the 214 traditional radicals it heads 405 kanji in KANJIDIC2. On its own it is the word kokoro, “mind; heart”. Its common words take the reading shin: 中心 (“center”), 関心 (“concern”), 心不全 (“heart failure”) and 心理 (“state of mind”). Chinese reads it xīn, “heart”, at HSK 3.
- Strokes
- 4
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 心 (“heart”)
- On
- シン
- Kun
- こころ, -ごころ
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Dot ㇔leftdownwards
- Flat slanted hook ㇃leftdown and right → rightwards
- Dot ㇔topdown and right
- Dot ㇔top rightdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 4 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Under the radical 心
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- シン shin
- Kun (native)
- こころ kokoro, -ごころ -gokoro
- Meanings
- heart; mind; spirit; heart radical
- Read shin
- 中心 関心 心不全 心理 心臓 心配
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 157th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 심 sim
- Common words
- 81 in JMdict
Words with 心
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 中心 | ちゅうしん chuushin | center; centre |
| 関心 | かんしん kanshin | concern; interest |
| 心不全 | しんふぜん shinfuzen | heart failure |
| 心理 | しんり shinri | state of mind; mentality |
| 心臓 | しんぞう shinzou | heart; guts |
| 心配 | しんぱい shinpai | worry; concern |
| 安心 | あんしん anshin | peace of mind; relief |
| 熱心 | ねっしん nesshin | zealous; enthusiastic |
| 都心 | としん toshin | city centre; heart of a city |
| 住み心地 | すみごこち sumigokochi | (level of) comfort |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
JLPT N4, in list order: