台 — how to write the kanji for “pedestal”

台 means “pedestal”, “a stand” and “counter for machines and vehicles”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in second grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 262nd most used kanji. KANJIDIC2 gives it 2 on readings and 3 kun readings, so the word decides how you say it. Its parts sit stacked: 厶 (“private”), strokes 1–2; 口 (“mouth”, its radical), strokes 3–5, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word dai, “stand; rest”. Its common words take the reading tai: 台湾 (“Taiwan”), 舞台 (“stage”), 台風 (“typhoon”) and 台頭 (“rise”). Chinese reads it tái, “platform”, at HSK 4.

Strokes

5

JLPT

N4

Radical

口 (“mouth”)

On

タイ, ダイ

Kun

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