英 — how to write the kanji for “England”
英 means “England”, “English” and “hero”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in fourth grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 430th most used kanji. Its parts sit stacked: 艹 (“grass”), strokes 1–3; 央 (“center”), strokes 4–8, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word ei, “United Kingdom; Britain”. Its common words take the reading ei: 英語 (“English (language)”), 英雄 (“hero”), 育英 (“education of gifted young people”) and 英文 (“English writing”). Chinese reads it yīng, “hero”, at HSK 6.
- Strokes
- 8
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 艸 (“grass”)
- On
- エイ
- Kun
- はなぶさ
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards → down and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 8 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- エイ ei
- Kun (native)
- はなぶさ hanabusa (rare)
- Meanings
- England; English; hero; outstanding; calyx
- Read ei
- 英語 英雄 育英 英文 英字 英和
- School year
- fourth grade
- Newspaper rank
- 430th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 영 yeong
- Common words
- 18 in JMdict
Words with 英
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 英語 | えいご eigo | English (language) |
| 英雄 | えいゆう eiyuu | hero; heroine |
| 育英 | いくえい ikuei | education of gifted young people; providing financial support… |
| 英文 | えいぶん eibun | English writing; English sentence |
| 英字 | えいじ eiji | English letter; alphabetic character |
| 英和 | えいわ eiwa | English-Japanese; English-Japanese dictionary |
| 英明 | えいめい eimei | intelligent; wise |
| 英知 | えいち eichi | wisdom; intelligence |
| 英訳 | えいやく eiyaku | English translation |
| 英文学 | えいぶんがく eibungaku | English(-language) literature; British literature |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: