死 — how to write the kanji for “death”
死 (“death” and “die”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in third grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 229th most used kanji. Its parts: 歹 (“bare bone”, its radical), strokes 1–4; 匕 (“spoon”), strokes 5–6, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word shi, “death; (an) out”. You will meet it in 死者 (“dead person”), 脳死 (“brain death”) and 二死 (“two out”). Chinese reads it sǐ, “to die”, at HSK 4.
- Strokes
- 6
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 歹 (“bare bone”)
- On
- シ
- Kun
- し·ぬ, し·に-
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
- Horizontal then left-falling ㇇leftrightwards → down and left
- Dot ㇔leftdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightdown and left
- Vertical-curve-hook ㇟topdownwards → rightwards
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 6 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 shi (rare)
- Kun (native)
- し·ぬ shi-nu (rare), し·に- shi-ni- (rare)
- Meanings
- death; die
- School year
- third grade
- Newspaper rank
- 229th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 사 sa
- Common words
- 39 in JMdict
Words with 死
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 死者 | ししゃ shisha | dead person; (the) deceased |
| 脳死 | のうし noushi | brain death |
| 二死 | にし nishi | two out; two down (and one to go) |
| 死亡 | しぼう shibou | death; dying |
| 必死 | ひっし hisshi | frantic; frenetic |
| 死刑 | しけい shikei | death penalty; capital punishment |
| 死去 | しきょ shikyo | death; decease |
| 死体 | したい shitai | dead body; corpse |
| 死後 | しご shigo | after death |
| 無死 | むし mushi | no outs |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: