月 — how to write the kanji for “month”
月 (“month” and “moon”) is a JLPT N5 kanji taught in first grade in Japan. In newspapers it is one of the hundred most used kanji (23rd). As one of the 214 traditional radicals it heads 24 kanji in KANJIDIC2. On its own it is the word tsuki, “Moon; month”. Its common words take the reading gatsu: 一月 (“January”), 七月 (“July”), 三月 (“March”) and 九月 (“September”). Chinese reads it yuè, “moon”, at HSK 1.
- Strokes
- 4
- JLPT
- N5
- Radical
- 月 (“moon or flesh”)
- On
- ゲツ, ガツ
- Kun
- つき
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Vertical then left-falling ㇓top leftdownwards
- Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆top leftrightwards → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 4 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Under the radical 月
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- ゲツ getsu, ガツ gatsu
- Kun (native)
- つき tsuki
- Meanings
- month; moon
- Read gatsu
- 一月 七月 三月 九月 二月 五月
- Read getsu
- 今月
- School year
- first grade
- Newspaper rank
- 23rd of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 월 wol
- Common words
- 57 in JMdict
Words with 月
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一月 | いちがつ ichigatsu | January; first month of the lunar calendar |
| 七月 | しちがつ shichigatsu | July; seventh month of the lunar calendar |
| 三月 | さんがつ sangatsu | March; third month of the lunar calendar |
| 九月 | くがつ kugatsu | September; ninth month of the lunar calendar |
| 二月 | にがつ nigatsu | February; second month of the lunar calendar |
| 五月 | ごがつ gogatsu | May; fifth month of the lunar calendar |
| 今月 | こんげつ kongetsu | this month |
| 八月 | はちがつ hachigatsu | August; eighth month of the lunar calendar |
| 六月 | ろくがつ rokugatsu | June; sixth month of the lunar calendar |
| 十月 | じゅうがつ juugatsu | October; tenth month of the lunar calendar |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
JLPT N5, in list order: