Kanji - Level 11 - Kanji

Question 1

功

Answer 1

Achievement
Radicals: 工 construction + 力 power
Using your construction power you build something great. A true achievement built for the achievement of making kanji learning easier!
Reading: こう
This achievement was made possible by こういち, so of course this construction project is a giant statue of the man himself. What an achievement of a statue. What an achievement of an achievement.

Question 2

成

Answer 2

Become
Radicals: 戈 drunkard + 刀 sword
When a drunkard holds a sword it becomes something else. The drunkard doesn’t become a swordsman, they’re still just a drunkard. But the sword in their hands does.
Reading: せい
The sword has become a saber (せい)! It’s just like the saber you have! Hey, wait.

Question 3

岸

Answer 3

Coast
Radicals: 山 mountain + 厂 cliff + 干 dry
The mountain on top of the cliff is dry from the coast below. Just from looking at the raging shore below, you’d think everything would be wet, it’s splashing everywhere!
Reading: がん
Sitting up there, watching the coast with you, is Gandhi (がん). The world famous Gandhi, is just hanging out up here with you, looking down at what you now realize must be a coast in India.

Question 4

競

Answer 4

Compete
Radicals: 立 stand + 兄 older brother
Standing next to your older brother is another standing older brother of yours. They’re trying to compete, to see which of them can stand the straightest and tallest.
Readings: きょう, けい
Your older brothers are trying to compete to see which of them gets to go to きょうと with you. You won a free trip to きょうと, but there’s only one other ticket, so now your brothers are competing for you.

Question 5

争

Answer 5

Conflict
Radicals: 勹 prison + ヨ wolverine +亅 barb
If you keep a wolverine in a prison with barbs, you’re likely to get into a conflict with animal rights groups. Wolverines aren’t meant to be kept in cages, let alone barbed prisons. There’s going to be some sort of conflict here, and animal activist groups are not going to be happy with you.
Reading: そう
When the wolverine cuts itself inside the barbed prison (which is inevitable), the conflict changes. Now there is a conflict between the wolverine and its soul (そう). Does it lose it and become a shell of its former self? Or does it keep fighting and try to hang onto what’s left of its soul?

Question 5

便

Answer 5

Convenience
Radicals: ｲ leader + 一 ground + 田 + rice paddy + メ treasure
A leader stands upon the ground of the rice paddy. She is searching for treasure. It is said that this treasure here in this rice field will make things much easier for the leader (that’s what leaders really want, after all). If she gets this treasure, it will be a great convenience for her, because convenience is everything when you’re the leader.
Readings: べん, びん
She finds a place to dig in the ground. It looks like there’s some fresh dirt here. Finally, the treasure of convenience that will make this leader’s life so much easier. She digs into the ground and pulls out a box. When she opens it, she finds out it’s a bento (べん). “My god,” she thinks. “This really will make my life more convenient. My people can take their lunches with them now instead of coming back to base to eat, which will waste way less time!”

Question 5

老

Answer 5

Elderly
Radicals: 耂 coffin + 匕 spoon
By the time you finish digging a coffin hole with nothing but a spoon, you’ll be an old elderly person. Digging with nothing but a spoon takes a long time, especially when the hole needs to be big enough for a coffin. You might as well be digging it for yourself at this rate. By the time you finish, you’ll be all wrinkled and elderly and just about ready to keel over.
Reading: ろう
Now that you’re elderly (and probably about to die) you suddenly crave some delicious roe (ろう). Salmon roe, sea urchin roe, tofugu roe, doesn’t matter. Your old, tired bones need roe after all that hard work!

Question 6

命

Answer 6

Fate
Radicals: 令 orders + 口 mouth
Orders coming from your mouth will determine the fate of your soldiers. You are their commanding officer and your orders determine their life and death.
Reading: めい, みょう
You are the commanding officer on the Mayflower (めい). You give orders to colonize America. The orders spewing from your mouth hole determine the fate of the settlers and the fate of America and the fate of the world! You and the Mayflower have changed everything forever.

Question 7

初

Answer 7

First
Radicals: ネ spirit + 刀 sword
If you want a spirit sword, you have to be the first one to find it. Do you really think the first person to come across a spirit sword wouldn’t want it?! No. So if you’re any place but first, you’re not getting anything.
Reading: しょ
If you were lucky enough to be the first one to find the spirit sword, you should open up a small show (しょ) to show it off! And then you can make yourself the first in line every day to see the show.

Question 7

指

Answer 7

Finger
Radicals: 扌fingers + 匕 spoon + 日 sun
Try to use your fingers to spoon out some of the sun and you’ll come back with just one finger.
Reading: し
Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one out there with just one finger, sheep (し) only have one finger too. I mean, they’re hooves, which are really just a single animal finger. It’s just big and kind of flat.

Question 8

味

Answer 8

Flavor
Radicals: 口 mouth + 未 jet
What is the jet of your mouth? It’s flavor. It’s what shoots your mouth off, which explains why it hurts so much when you eat something awesome.
Reading: み
And what has more flavor than a big slab of meat (み)? You love meat and its flavor nearly as much as you love the flavor of its juice. So many good things to put in your mouth!

Question 9

追

Answer 9

Follow
Radicals: ⻌ scooter + 㠯 bear + 丶drop
On a scooter there is a bear with a drop on its head trying to follow and chase you! You accidentally splashed it with water and it’s not happy about it. You’re on your own scooter, luckily, but that doesn’t make this any less terrifying.
Reading: お
The bear is trying to follow you because it wants your obi (お) as compensation for its injured pride. The obi is waving in the wind behind your scooter, and the bear is reaching out with its teeth to try and grab it.

Question 10

神

Answer 10

God
Radicals: ネ spirit + 申 humble
You should have a spirit that’s humble when before a god. You never really have to act all nice and humble before anyone else, but if you meet a god… well… you should probably lower yourself appropriately. They can smite you and all that.
Reading: しん, じん
When you see a god, you need to get down on your shins (しん). Get down on your ankles? No, not low enough. Knees? No, no, get your shins flat on the ground to show how humble you really are. Luckily, you’re wearing jeans (じん), so at least that will stop your poor shins getting chafed!

Question 11

良

Answer 11

Good
Radicals: 丶drop + 艮 root
A drop of water to a root is good. It’s good for the roots to grow and live and thrive. And what’s good for roots is good for our plants and us humans too.
Reading: りょう
A good way to get a lot of drops of water for your roots is to buy a row boat (りょう). Then just row out to the middle of the lake and plonk all the roots right into the source!

Question 12

意

Answer 12

Idea
Radicals: 音 sound + 心 heart
The sound of your heart gives me an idea. The methodic thump thump thumping of a heart puts me in a trance that gives me great ideas. It’s a very inspirational sound, the sound of a heart is. It gives me an idea.
Alternatively, you could look at this kanji and see a “stand” radical and something that kind of (almost) looks like the kanji for “think.” When you stand up and think, you come up with your very own ideas!
Reading: い
The heart of an eagle (い) is very strong. The person who knew this probably came up with the idea to make the bald eagle a symbol of the United States. Eagles are always flying around and doing things, so their hearts are very strong.

Question 13

労

Answer 13

Labor
Radicals: 龸 viking + 力 power
A Viking in a position of power does not need to labor in the fields. Labor is for the weak! A Viking of power takes what he wants, and need not labor for it. A powerful Viking plunders all and takes what he wants!
Reading: ろう
It takes a lot of labor to harvest roe (ろう) so that’s what the Viking decides to take first! Roe is delicious, but it’s small and delicate. Vikings don’t labor for their own roe! They take it and eat it!

Question 14

級

Answer 14

Level
Radicals: 糸 thread + 及 escalator
There are pieces of thread on each escalator showing you what level they go to in your school. Each escalator takes you to a different grade, so make sure you follow the right thread or you’ll end up in a class that’s either way above or way below your level.
Reading: きゅう
You want to see what the highest level is, so you go up the wrong escalator. At the top you find a giant cucumber (きゅう).

Question 15

好

Answer 15

Like
Radicals: 女 woman + 子 child
There is a woman and a child in front of you. You like them very much.
Reading: こう
“I like you two,” you say to the woman and child. They both turn their heads 180 degrees back towards you. They both have faces that look just like こういち’s. “We like you too,” they say in unison.

Question 16

昔

Answer 16

Long ago
Radicals: 龷 blackjack + 日 sun
You’ve been playing blackjack in the sun since long ago. This is the longest game of blackjack you’ve ever played and it feels like ages since you started. You’ve been sitting out in the sun playing blackjack since long, long ago.
Reading: むかし
Once you finally finish the game, you walk the long walk back home, in the sun, barefoot, on a dirt road that hasn’t been maintained since long ago. Your feet are all sweaty from being out in the sun, and walking on this dirt road gives you muck ashi (むかし). Your ashi (feet) are all mucky and muddy from the combination of dirt and sweat. Your muck ashi are really gross, man.

Question 17

低

Answer 17

Low
Radicals: ｲ leader + 氏 clan + 一 ground
The leader of your clan wants to live close to the ground so he demands you get low. Low, low, with your belly to the ground. That way you’re always below him, since he’s the leader.
Reading: てい
Low people like you can only eat low food like potatoes. But that’s boring, so you low people learned to make tater (てい) tots. You roll them to each other and eat them without lifting your heads.

Question 18

育

Answer 18

Nurture
Radicals: 𠫓 trash + 月 moon
Give trash to the moon and it will nurture and raise that trash like it’s its own little moon baby.
Reading: いく
The moon nurtures the trash ball until one day, it speaks! “行く (いく), 行く！” it says. It wants to go live with mom moon!

Question 19

令

Answer 19

Orders
Radicals: 令 orders
If you know the radical meaning orders you know the kanji meaning orders as well!
Reading: れい
Your orders are to get a ray (れい) gun.

Question 20

拾

Answer 20

Pick up
Radicals: 扌fingers + 合 suit
You see something that would suit you so you use your fingers and pick up the thing you want. You can pick up anything you think suits you. A shiny rock. A new pair of pants. Anything!
Reading: ひろ
You’re walking around looking for something to pick up when you see a sword in a rock. Yes, this will suit you. You pick up the sword and people jump out around you and tell you that you are the new hero (ひろ)! Uh oh. Maybe you shouldn’t have picked this up.

Question 21

注

Answer 21

Pour
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 主 master
A tsunami master has the power to pour water wherever he pleases. Tsunami masters are masters over the most powerful water force in the universe, so it makes sense that they have the ability to pour water at will, wherever they please. Best not tick off the master, unless you want a tsunami poured on your head.
Reading: ちゅう
If Chewbacca (ちゅう) was trying to attack you, you’d be able to defend yourself easily. Simply pour a tsunami on him and Chewbacca would surrender in a heartbeat. Chewbacca doesn’t like having water poured on him, especially not all the water from a tsunami.

Question 22

利

Answer 22

Profit
Radicals: 禾 grain +刂 knife
Cut grains with a knife to make them smaller and you’ll make a great profit. By cutting them, now you can get three grains worth of money for what was once a single grain.
Reading: り
To make an even better profit, you decide to cut up reeds (り) too. You stuff the grains in the reeds and sell that as “self-cooking” sets.

Question 23

位

Answer 23

Rank
Radicals: ｲ leader + 立 stand
A leader stands at the highest rank in an organization. The leader is of the highest rank and stands above all others.
Reading: い
This great leader is actually the leader of the boy scouts. And as we all know, the highest rank in boy scouts is the rank of eagle (い) scout. This great leader has attained the rank of eagle scout and stands above all other scouts.

Question 24

仲

Answer 24

Relationship
Radicals: ｲ leader + 中 middle
A middle of the road leader is likely to have an average relationship with everyone. He doesn’t really take sides in matters, and just stays in the middle. This makes him seem like sort of a wishy washy people pleaser, and as such his relationships with people are rarely anything more than average.
Reading: なか
This kanji is pronounced exactly like the kanji 中 (なか). It’s one of those kanji where you can figure out the reading from one of the radicals.

Question 25

放

Answer 25

Release
Radicals: 方 direction + 夂 winter
When winter comes your direction, the trees must release their leaves for the coming cold.
Reading: ほう
The trees release all of their leaves onto your home (ほう). Slowly, you watch in horror as your home is consumed by the released leaves. They enter in through the windows, doors, and the chimney.

Question 26

秒

Answer 26

Second
Radicals: 禾 grain + 少 few
You only got a few grains on your plate. It only takes you a second to eat them. It can’t take any longer because there were so few.
Reading: びょう
And also, a second is how long it takes for your awful B.O. (びょう) to appear.

Question 27

別

Answer 27

Separate
Radicals: 口 mouth + 刀 sword +刂 knife
In your mouth you put a sword and a knife. Now that you have them in there, you have to make them separate from each other.
Reading: べつ
Why are you trying to make a sword and knife separate in your mouth? Because someone bets you (べつ) can’t do it.

Question 28

特

Answer 28

Special
Radicals: 牛 cow + 寺 temple
This cow temple is special. This cow must have been very important to have an entire temple dedicated to it.
Reading: とく
This cow is special because it belonged to Tokugawa (とく) Ieyasu, the first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate and uniter of Japan! He’s a super important figure in Japanese history. You should absolutely look him up and read a bit about him (when you’re caught up on these lessons, that is).

Question 29

共

Answer 29

Together
Radicals: 龷 blackjack + ハ fins
The card game fish are best at is blackjack because they can easily hold the cards with their fins together. In blackjack you don’t have to have a huge hand, full of cards. It’s just a few, so fish fins can keep them together and just hit or stay.
Reading: きょう
Once a year trillions of fish get together in きょうと to play blackjack. They have a huge tournament there once a year.

Question 30

努

Answer 30

Toil
Radicals: 女 woman + 又 stool + 力 power
A woman of power sits on a stool while her servants toil away in the kitchen. They are toiling away preparing a feast for this woman of power while she kicks back on her cozy stool. She’s a queen and deserves to be pampered.
Reading: ど
The servants are making lots of food for you and your dog (ど). You’re really hungry, so you encourage your minions to toil away faster so that you might feast a bit sooner.

Question 31

伝

Answer 31

Transmit
Radicals: ｲ leader + 云 cloud
The leader has a cloud that he uses to transmit all of the messages he needs to send to his people. The cloud floats above him and when he wants to tell people something he just whispers into the cloud and it transmits his message really, really loudly to all of them.
Reading: でん
As the leader transmits his latest series of messages to you and the others, you notice a pretty large dent (でん) in it. That dent is probably a clue to what this cloud is really made of.

Question 32

戦

Answer 32

War
Radicals: 単 simple + 戈 drunkard
Even a simple drunkard can start a war. In fact, it’s really common for one simple drunk person to offend an entire country into declaring war.
Reading: せん
Welp, you woke up this morning and now you’re at war with the centaurs (せん). This is especially unfortunate, because the centaurs are really good at battles because they’re all automatically cavalry troops.

Question 33

波

Answer 33

Wave
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 皮 skin
A tsunami hits your skin and creates smaller waves. Those hit you too!
Reading: は
When each wave hits your body, you shout, “Ha (は)!” It’s not like it’s on purpose. When the wave crashes into you, the wind gets knocked right out of your mouth, making a HA sound.

Question 34

洋

Answer 34

Western style
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 羊 sheep
A sheep rides a tsunami in classic Western style. And by Western style I mean the sheep is dressed in a cowboy outfit and has put a saddle atop the tsunami wave to ride it. It’s a tsunami rodeo and this crazy sheep is riding that tsunami wave in classic Western style.
This kanji also means ocean, because presumably the people from the “West” who have “Western Style” came from across the ocean. They’re the “Ocean People” in this sense. You’ll want to be familiar with this meaning for vocab later on.
Reading: よう
After a whole day of riding this tsunami, the sheep is hankerin’ for some Western style food. This sheep loves yogurt (よう). And its favorite flavor is Western style apple pie yogurt. America loves its apple pie and this sheep loves Western style apple pie flavored yogurt.

Question 35

誰

Answer 35

Who
Radicals: 言 say + 隹 turkey
Who will say turkey? Who? WHO???
Reading: だれ
Then, someone says turkey. “Who said turkey? You? How dare (だれ) you.”

Question 36

働

Answer 36

Work
Radicals: ｲ leader + 重 heavy + 力 power
A leader with a lot of power can move heavy things with hardly any work. By power, I mean a lot of strength because this leader is very strong and moving heavy things is no problem for her. Her power allows the leader to move heavy things with little to no work at all.
Reading: どう
Where does this leader’s power come from? Doughnuts (どう). She eats nothing but doughnuts. She has a special crew of bakers that work for her in the castle and they work all day to make the leader doughnuts of power. They are imbued with many secret ingredients that give the leader the power to move anything, no matter how heavy it is.