京 — how to write the kanji for “capital”

京 (“capital” and “10¹⁶”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is one of the hundred most used kanji (74th). KANJIDIC2 gives it 3 on readings and 1 kun reading, so the word decides how you say it. Its parts: 亠 (“lid”, its radical), strokes 1–2; 口 (“mouth”), strokes 3–5; 小 (“little”), strokes 6–8, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word kyou, “imperial capital; final word of an iroha poem”. Its common words take the reading kyou: 京都 (“Kyoto (city, prefecture)”), 東京 (“Tokyo”), 東京証券取引所 (“Tokyo Stock Exchange”) and 中京 (“Nagoya (city)”). Chinese reads it jīng, “short name for Beijing 北京”, at HSK 4.

Strokes

8

JLPT

N4

Radical

亠 (“lid”)

On

キョウ, ケイ, キン

Kun

みやこ