言 — how to write the kanji for “say”
言 (“say” and “word”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is one of the hundred most used kanji (83rd). As one of the 214 traditional radicals it heads 300 kanji in KANJIDIC2. On its own it is the word gen, “word; remark”. Read gen, it forms 宣言 (“declaration”), 発言 (“statement”) and 証言 (“testimony”); the native reading i-u gives 言う (“to say”) and 言わば (“so to speak”). Chinese reads it yán, “words”, at HSK 3.
- Strokes
- 7
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 言 (“say”)
- On
- ゲン, ゴン
- Kun
- い·う, こと
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Dot ㇔topdown and right
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑bottom leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕bottomrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 7 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Under the radical 言
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- ゲン gen, ゴン gon
- Kun (native)
- い·う i-u, こと koto
- Meanings
- say; word
- Read gen
- 宣言 発言 証言 言語 狂言
- Read i-u
- 言う 言わば
- Read koto
- 言葉 一言
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 83rd of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 언 eon
- Common words
- 69 in JMdict
Words with 言
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 宣言 | せんげん sengen | declaration; proclamation |
| 発言 | はつげん hatsugen | statement; remark |
| 言う | いう iu | to say; to utter |
| 言葉 | ことば kotoba | language; dialect |
| 言わば | いわば iwaba | so to speak; so to call it |
| 証言 | しょうげん shougen | testimony; (verbal) evidence |
| 提言 | ていげん teigen | proposal; motion |
| 言語 | げんご gengo | language |
| 一言 | ひとこと hitokoto | single word; a few words |
| 狂言 | きょうげん kyougen | kyogen; farce presented between noh plays or during the… |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: