主 — how to write the kanji for “lord”

主 means “lord”, “chief” and “master”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in third grade in Japan. In newspapers it is one of the hundred most used kanji (95th). Its Japanese stroke 3, a vertical, is the 4th stroke in the Chinese order. On its own it is the word omo, “chief; main”. Its common words take the reading shu: 喪主 (“chief mourner”), 民主 (“democracy”), 主催 (“sponsorship”) and 主席 (“head”). Chinese reads it zhǔ, “owner”, at HSK 3.

Strokes: 5
JLPT: N4
Radical: 丶 (“dot”)
On: シュ, ス, シュウ
Kun: ぬし, おも, あるじ

Stroke by stroke

Its parts: 丶 (“dot”, its radical), stroke 1; 王 (“king or jade”), strokes 2–5, each finished before the next.

Dot ㇔topdown and right
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards

Two stroke orders

Japan and China order its strokes differently: 2 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 3 = Chinese 4; Japanese 4 = Chinese 3.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 5 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 5 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Readings

On (Chinese-derived): シュ shu, ス su, シュウ shuu (rare)
Kun (native): ぬし nushi, おも omo, あるじ aruji (rare)
Meanings: lord; chief; master; main thing; principal
Read shu: 喪主民主主催主席主張主義
School year: third grade
Newspaper rank: 95th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
Korean hanja: 주 ju
Common words: 86 in JMdict

On and kun, explained

Words with 主

Word	Reading	Meaning
喪主	もしゅ moshu	chief mourner
民主	みんしゅ minshu	democracy; popular sovereignty
主催	しゅさい shusai	sponsorship; promotion
主席	しゅせき shuseki	head; chief
主張	しゅちょう shuchou	claim; insistence
主義	しゅぎ shugi	doctrine; rule
主要	しゅよう shuyou	chief; main
民主党	みんしゅとう minshutou	Democratic Party; Democratic Party of Japan (1998-2016)
朝鮮民主主義人民共和国	ちょうせんみんしゅしゅぎじんみんきょうわこく chousenminshushugijinminkyouwakoku	Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea); DPRK
主導	しゅどう shudou	leadership; initiative

Most common first (JMdict).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.

Keep going

Same parts:

JLPT N4, in list order: