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週 — how to write the kanji for “week”

週 (“week”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. Its ⻌ (“walking”) sits on the left but is written last, strokes 9–11 of 11. KANJIDIC2 files it under the radical 辵 (“walk”). On its own it is the word shuu, “week”. Its common words take the reading shuu: 週刊 (“weekly publication”), 今週 (“this week”), 先週 (“last week”) and 毎週 (“every week”).

Strokes
11
JLPT
N4
Radical
辵 (“walk”)
On
シュウ

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11

Its parts sit one inside another: 周 (“circumference”), strokes 1–8; ⻌ (“walking”), strokes 9–11, each finished before the next.

  1. Left-falling stroke ㇒topdownwards
  2. Horizontal-turn-hook ㇆toprightwards → downwards
  3. Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
  4. Vertical ㇑topdownwards
  5. Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
  6. Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
  7. Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → downwards
  8. Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
  9. Dot ㇔top leftdown and right
  10. Horizontal, turn, turn, left-falling ㇋leftrightwards → downwards → down and left
  11. Right-falling stroke ㇏bottom leftrightwards

Japanese and Chinese

The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (11 strokes in Japanese, 11 strokes in Chinese).

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 11 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 11 strokes

The trap in 週

Write 周 (“circumference”) first, strokes 1–8, and finish with ⻌ (“walking”), strokes 9–11.

Kanji stroke order rules

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Readings

On (Chinese-derived)
シュウ shuu
Kun (native)
none
Meanings
week
Read shuu
週刊 今週 先週 毎週 一週間 来週
School year
second grade
Newspaper rank
540th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
Korean hanja
주 ju
Common words
17 in JMdict

On and kun, explained

Words with 週

WordReadingMeaning
週刊しゅうかん shuukanweekly publication
今週こんしゅう konshuuthis week
先週せんしゅう senshuulast week; the week before
毎週まいしゅう maishuuevery week
一週間いっしゅうかん isshuukanone week
来週らいしゅう raishuunext week
週末しゅうまつ shuumatsuweekend
週明けしゅうあけ shuuakebeginning of next week; early next week
週休しゅうきゅう shuukyuuweekly holiday
週間しゅうかん shuukanweek

Most common first (JMdict).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.

Keep going

Same parts:

JLPT N4, in list order: