Kanji - Level 15 - Kanji Flashcards
紀
Account
Radicals: 糸 thread + 己 oneself
The thread you weave together to tell others about oneself is the account of your life. It’s your very own narrative, tying everything you’ve been through together.
Reading: き
You take this account and lock it with a special key (き). You only give this key to people you really trust, so they can read the account of your life and truly understand you.
軍
Army
Radicals: 冖 forehead + 車 car
You run into someone’s forehead with your car. The big forehead you hit is Kim Jong Un’s. You know that now you’re going to have the whole North Korean army coming after you.
Reading: ぐん
The army is after you. Each army soldier has a gun (ぐん) and they want to use these guns of theirs to shoot you dead! You killed their leader with a car and now they’re gonna get you back with a gun!
秋
Autumn
Radicals: 禾 grain + 火 fire
Grains look like they’re on fire in autumn. They all turn red and orange and brown, the colors of fire. It’s also fun to set grains on fire in Autumn, since it’s getting colder.
Reading: あき
As the grains burn, and the season changes to autumn, imagine them yelling out in pain: “ACK (あき)!”
信
Believe
Radicals: ｲ leader + 言 say
You say to your leader, “Believe and trust in me, I’m responsible.” The leader doesn’t think you can handle your duties, so this is why you said this to him. You want him to believe and trust you. You can handle this task.
Reading: しん
To show you are serious as you say, “Believe and trust in me, I’m responsible,” you kneel down on each shin (しん). You have shin splints, so it hurts a bit, but you do it anyway to show how serious you are.
岩
Boulder
Radicals: 山 mountain + 石 stone
A mountain stone is probably going to be a really big stone. We’re talking about a boulder here.
Reading: いわ
“Boulder!!!” yells a voice from behind you. “Eek, wha…?” (いわ) you reply. You look up to see a boulder falling off the cliff above you. “Eeeeeek! Whaaaat!?,” you shout again, running and screaming this time.
仏
Buddha
Radicals: ｲ leader + ム private
Your private leader is Buddha. You don’t feel the need to tell everyone. But when you’re alone you give your time to Buddha and let him lead your life.
Reading: ぶつ
Your private Buddha is a little different than other people’s idea of him. Your Buddha is wearing boots (ぶつ). They’re big and rubber, and they look fabulous on him.
建
Build
Radicals: 廴 yoga + 聿 brush
Your magic yoga brush lets you build what’s in your mind’s eye.
Reading: けん
You build a bridge. Immediately after, someone is climbing up onto it. It’s Ken (けん) the samurai. He waves at you and says, “Did you build this? The craftsmanship is amazing.”
猫
Cat
Radicals: 犭animal + 艹 flowers + 田 rice paddy
If you see an animal among the flowers in a rice paddy, chances are it’s a cat. Cats love rice paddy flowers, almost as much as they love catnip.
Reading: ねこ
Wait a minute… This cat is pretty odd looking. You take a closer look, seeing it is missing its neck (ねこ). You go to pet it, but it’s super sensitive about that area of its head, which is basically a face connected to a body…
変
Change
Radicals: 赤 red + 夂 winter
If the snow in winter was red instead of white, that’d be a strange change wouldn’t you say? White snow is normal, red would just be strange. Can you imagine what it would be like if the winter snow changed to the color of red?
Reading: へん
You know what else is a strange thing to change? The color of a hen (へん). Hens are already red, so we’d change them to another color, like purple. That would be a pretty strange color for a hen, right?
晴
Clear up
Radicals: 日 sun + 青 blue
The sun is out, the sky is blue, things have begun to clear up!
Reading: は
Now that it’s starting to clear up you can’t help but laugh. “Ha (は)! Ha ha ha!” you laugh up into the sky. The sun feels great on your face, making you feel lively! And that blue sky ain’t too shabby either.
築
Construct
Radicals: 竹 bamboo + 巩 saw + 木 tree
You saw down a bamboo tree to construct and build a building. Bamboo trees are great for construction, so you saw down a bunch of bamboo trees to build this new building.
Reading: ちく
As you construct and build this building, you hear a strange cheeping noise. Suddenly a chick (ちく) pops out of one of the bamboo pieces you are building with. Then another, and another. You’re surrounded by chicks!
勇
Courage
Radicals: マ mama + 男 man
When a mama stands with a man, it gives him courage.
Reading: ゆう
A man needs courage to stand up to all the youths (ゆう) of the world. They are too numerous and difficult to understand. It’s scary, but the man has courage thanks to his mom.
泣
Cry
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 立 stand
If you stand in front of a tsunami, you’re going to cry. That tsunami is going to hit you hard, and rip you right off the ground on which you stand. Who wouldn’t cry?
Reading: な
Do you know the only way to stop yourself crying after a tsunami? That’s right, nachos (な)! Nachos are the only proven way to cheer people up after being hit by a tsunami.
司
Director
Radicals: 𠃌 cape + 𠮛 creeper
A creeper inside of a cape, who are they? They’re the director of a movie. They try to look all mysterious, but you know it’s just so people go see their movies and think they’re cool. Really they’re just a creep deep down.
Reading: し
The director is currently directing a movie about sheep (し). He keeps petting them and talking to them like they’re humans.
区
District
Radicals: 匚 cage + メ treasure
This cage with treasure in it is actually a map of the district the treasure is in.
Reading: く
There is one district you’re interested in, and that’s the cookie (く) district.
英
England
Radicals: 艹 flowers + 央 center
There are many flowers in the center of England. It may seem rainy and gray at first, but if you walk right to the center you’ll see all the flowers that grow there in the center of the country.
This kanji also means English, which is pretty similar to England. Just imagine all the people of England walking to the center, where the flowers are, and speaking English to them to help them grow.
Reading: えい
You keep walking to the very central center of England and see a giant acorn (えい) planted in the middle of the ground. This acorn is the source of all the flowers and life in England.
丈
Height
Radicals: 丈 height
The height radical and the height kanji are the same!
That said, there’s a secondary meaning to this kanji of ten feet. So, when you think of height, think of that height as being ten feet tall.
Reading: じょう
When you think of height, think of our huge farmhand friend, Joe (じょう). He’s a big guy, and he has a lot of height to him. In fact, he’s ten feet tall.
夫
Husband
Radicals: 夫 husband
The husband radical and the husband kanji are the same. How useful, unlike some husbands, I’d imagine.
Readings: ふう, ふ
What do all husbands love? Food (ふう)! Can you hear your future husband? He’s saying, “Fooooood! FOOOOOD!” like some kind of food craving zombie.
福
Luck
Radicals: ネ spirit + 畐 scarecrow
When a spirit decides to live in your scarecrow, you’ll be granted good luck and good fortune. Crows won’t hang out in your farm. Everything you grow will become large and delicious. But not everyone is so lucky that a spirit will decide to live in their scarecrow. So maybe the luck was in you all along!
Reading: ふく
You want to check the scarecrow to make sure your recent luck is coming from it, so you kick it. “F*** (ふく) you!” it yells. Oh yeah, there’s a spirit in there.
飯
Meal
Radicals: 食 eat + 反 anti
If you’re anti-eat your meal will just sit in front of you, uneaten. Food is meant to be eaten! Stop trying to fast and take a bite.
Reading: はん
As you stare at the meal, Han (はん) Solo appears before you and takes a bite! This is what happens if you don’t eat your food, someone else will eat it.
計
Measure
Radicals: 言 say + 十 cross
If you want to say how big a cross is, you have to measure it. You can’t say the size of something without measuring it first.
Reading: けい
You need to measure this cross but all you have is a cake (けい). Good enough! I’m sure all cakes are exactly the same size, so they’re a reliable unit of measure.
法
Method
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 去 past
Tsunamis in the past changed the methods and laws of today.
Reading: ほう
These methods and laws affected your own home (ほう) the most.
晩
Night
Radicals: 日 sun + 免 excuse
The sun has an excuse for disappearing at night. The sun gets really tired, same as anyone else – so when night rolls around the sun excuses itself and goes to sleep. It’s a valid excuse.
Reading: ばん
Unfortunately, you also have a history of overworking yourself, so you’ve been outright banned (ばん) from showing up at night.
昼
Noon
Radicals: 尺 shrimp + 日 sun + 一 ground
The sun rises from the ground, and on top of it is a giant shrimp. It doesn’t do anything except for every day right at noon, when it tells you the time. “Hey guyz, it’s noon, mmk?”
Reading: ひる
At noon, the shrimp also puts on its high heels (ひる) to get ready for the evening, where it wants to make sure it looks good for the other shrimp he/she meets later on.
