字 — how to write the kanji for “character”

字 means “character”, “letter” and “word”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in first grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 485th most used kanji. KANJIDIC2 gives it 1 on reading and 3 kun readings, so the word decides how you say it. Its parts sit stacked: 宀 (“roof”), strokes 1–3; 子 (“child”, its radical), strokes 4–6, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word aza, “section of village”. Its common words take the reading ji: 数字 (“numeral”), 赤字 (“(being in) the red”), 黒字 (“(being in) the black”) and 文字 (“letter”). Chinese reads it zì, “letter”, at HSK 1.

Strokes

6

JLPT

N4

Radical

子 (“child”)

On

ジ

Kun

あざ, あざな, -な