春 — how to write the kanji for “springtime”
春 (“springtime” and “spring (season)”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. Its parts sit stacked: 𡗗, strokes 1–5; 日 (“day”, its radical), strokes 6–9, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word haru, “spring; springtime”. Read shun, it forms 今春 (“this spring”), 春闘 (“spring labor offensive”) and 来春 (“next spring”); the native reading haru gives 春場所 (“Spring Tournament…”) and 春先 (“beginning of spring”). Chinese reads it chūn, “spring”, at HSK 3.
- Strokes
- 9
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 日 (“day”)
- On
- シュン
- Kun
- はる
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards → down and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right
- Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
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)
- シュン shun
- Kun (native)
- はる haru
- Meanings
- springtime; spring (season)
- Read shun
- 今春 春闘 来春 青春 昨春 春秋
- Read haru
- 春場所 春先
- School year
- second grade
- Newspaper rank
- 579th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 춘 chun
- Common words
- 16 in JMdict
Words with 春
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 今春 | こんしゅん konshun | this spring; spring this year |
| 春闘 | しゅんとう shuntou | spring labor offensive; annual spring wage bargaining round |
| 来春 | らいしゅん raishun | next spring |
| 青春 | せいしゅん seishun | youth; adolescence |
| 昨春 | さくしゅん sakushun | last spring; the spring of last year |
| 春秋 | しゅんじゅう shunjuu | spring and autumn; spring and fall |
| 春場所 | はるばしょ harubasho | Spring Tournament (held in Osaka in March) |
| 新春 | しんしゅん shinshun | New Year |
| 春季 | しゅんき shunki | spring season |
| 春先 | はるさき harusaki | beginning of spring |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: