屋 — how to write the kanji for “roof”
屋 means “roof”, “house” and “shop”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in third grade in Japan. Its parts sit one inside another: 尸 (“body”, its radical), strokes 1–3; 至 (“climax”), strokes 4–9, each finished before the next. Its native reading ya leads in its common words, as in 部屋 (“room”) and 屋根 (“roof”); read oku it forms 屋上 (“rooftop”). Chinese reads it wū, “house”, at HSK 3.
- Strokes
- 9
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 尸 (“body”)
- On
- オク
- Kun
- や
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Horizontal-turn ㇕top leftrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Left-falling-turn ㇜centerdown and left → rightwards
- Dot ㇔rightdown and right
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottom leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 9 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- オク oku
- Kun (native)
- や ya
- Meanings
- roof; house; shop; dealer; seller
- Read ya
- 部屋 屋根 総会屋 小屋 料理屋 問屋
- Read oku
- 屋上 家屋 屋外
- School year
- third grade
- Newspaper rank
- 616th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 옥 ok
- Common words
- 44 in JMdict
Words with 屋
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 部屋 | へや heya | room; chamber |
| 屋根 | やね yane | roof |
| 総会屋 | そうかいや soukaiya | extortionist that threatens to disrupt stock-holder meetings… |
| 小屋 | こや koya | hut; cabin |
| 屋上 | おくじょう okujou | rooftop |
| 料理屋 | りょうりや ryouriya | restaurant |
| 家屋 | かおく kaoku | house; building |
| 屋外 | おくがい okugai | outdoors; outside |
| 問屋 | とんや ton'ya | wholesale store; wholesale dealer |
| 屋台 | やたい yatai | cart; stall |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: