公 — how to write the kanji for “public”

公 means “public”, “prince” and “official”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 118th most used kanji. Its parts sit stacked: 八 (“eight”, its radical), strokes 1–2; 厶 (“private”), strokes 3–4, each finished before the next. With 4 strokes it is among the simplest kanji of N4. On its own it is the word ooyake, “official; governmental”. Its common words take the reading kou: 公共 (“public…”), 公園 (“(public) park”), 公式 (“official”) and 公演 (“public performance”). Chinese reads it gōng, “public”, at HSK 1.

Strokes

4

JLPT

N4

Radical

八 (“eight”)

On

コウ, ク

Kun

おおやけ