Kanji - Level 31 - Kanji

Question 1

帯

Answer 1

Belt
Radicals: 山 mountain + 一 ground + 冖 forehead + 巾 towel
There’s a mountain coming out of the ground that you want to climb, but your forehead needs a towel for all your sweat. You don’t have a towel, so you take off your belt and tie it around your forehead.
Reading: たい
The belt isn’t absorbent enough, so you wrap it in your tie (たい) and then tie the whole thing around your forehead again.

Question 2

廊

Answer 2

Corridor
Radicals: 广 canopy + 郎 guy
The canopy guy is a guy who stands in the corridor trying to sell people canopies.
Reading: ろう
You take the corridor, but this time the canopy guy is gone. In his place is a new salesman. This one is trying to sell you roe (ろう).

Question 3

離

Answer 3

Detach
Radicals: 离 rocket + 隹 turkey
The rocket turkey has several points which will detach during takeoff.
Reading: り
When the rocket turkey parts detach, they fall to the ground onto a bed of reeds (り).

Question 4

径

Answer 4

Diameter
Radicals: 彳loiter + 圣 tombstone (I know it doesn’t quite look like the right-side radical of the kanji, so just mentally replace the right-side radical with the tombstone radical)
You loiter around a tombstone to measure its diameter. You’re doing this to each tombstone, and if you loiter around long enough, you’ll soon know the diameter of every tombstone.
Reading: けい
You need to know the diameter of each tombstone so you can make cakes (けい) for each one. But the cakes can’t be wider than the tombstones, or they’ll flop off onto the ground.

Question 5

融

Answer 5

Dissolve
Radicals: 鬲 bully + 虫 insect
You see a bully take an insect and dissolve it in some acid. Bullies are messed up, mean people. They do awful things that normal kids and people wouldn’t do… like dissolve a living creature.
Reading: ゆう
The only bullies heartless enough to dissolve insects like this are youths (ゆう). Do you really think an adult would melt a harmless critter? No. Only inexperienced youths could be so cruel.

Question 6

均

Answer 6

Equal
Radicals: 土 dirt + 勺 pool + 丶drop
You have some dirt next to a pool that has an extra drop of water in it because you need them to be equal. If there’s too much dirt outside the pool and not enough water inside, it’s gonna look weird. We can’t have that.
Reading: きん
You spend a few hours making sure the water-to-dirt ratio is perfectly equal, not for yourself, but because the King (きん) of England told you to. You may agree that equality is important, but it’s the King’s responsibility to keep things that way. Which is why he ordered you, small peon, to do the equalizing work for him.

Question 7

豪

Answer 7

Exceptional
Radicals: 亠 lid + 口 mouth + 冖 forehead + 豕 pig
You put a lid on a dish you’re cooking, made up of the mouths and foreheads of a pig. This is truly an exceptional dish you are cooking up.
Reading: ごう
Exceptional pig mouth forehead soup is a favorite of Grandpa ごういち. You see him sniffing around your window, then he knocks and waves.

Question 8

除

Answer 8

Exclude
Radicals: 阝building + 余 surplus
The buildings are at a surplus. Because of that, we will need to exclude some of them from our future plans. Also, we’ll need to remove some buildings too.
Readings: じょ, じ
Working with you on this project to exclude buildings from the plan, as well as remove buildings that already exist is little Jo-Anne (じょ).

Question 9

貨

Answer 9

Freight
Radicals: 化 change + 貝 shellfish
You want to change your shellfish into freight so you can transport it. That means packing them up into giant freight containers.
Reading: か
To move this freight, you need a car (か). You strap all of the freight containers to the top of your car, stacked nice and high and precarious, so you can move it.

Question 10

孫

Answer 10

Grandchild
Radicals: 子 child + 系 lineage
A child shares his lineage with a grandchild. The child passes his lineage down to his child and then that child’s child is the grandchild and between them all a lineage is shared.
Reading: そん
The son (そん) of a son is a grandchild. In this case, a grandson. Easy.

Question 11

墓

Answer 11

Grave
Radicals: 土 dirt + 莫 greenhouse
There’s a strange patch of dirt in this greenhouse that’s actually a grave. Dig around a little and you’ll find the marker buried in there. If you dig deeper you’ll probably find less pleasant things.
Reading: ぼ
You decide to dig even deeper into the grave out of curiosity and you find a bow (ぼ) and some arrows. This must be the grave of a great archer! But you probably shouldn’t keep digging around in this grave looking for more stuff.

Question 12

幾

Answer 12

How many
Radicals: 幺 poop + 戈 drunkard + 人 person
You poop twice on a sleeping drunkard person and you find yourself wondering how many more times you can poop on them and wonder how much they can take before they realize what’s going on.
Reading: いく
As you continue thinking about how much poop this drunkard can take and how many more poops you can drop on him, he begins to wake up. Quickly, you eke (いく) out one last poop before you scurry away. You eke that poop out just in time to make your escape.

Question 13

尋

Answer 13

Inquire
Radicals: ヨ wolverine + 工 construction + 口 mouth + 寸 measurement
Wolverine is doing a construction job and he’s using his mouth to measure so he knows how many folks he needs to inquire about helping him with the job. Using one’s mouth is a strange way to measure something, but that’s just how Wolverine does things. Once he measures it all out, he’ll know how many construction workers he needs to inquire about working for him.
Reading: じん
You decide to inquire as to why Wolverine is using his mouth to measure out this construction site. As you get closer you notice his cool ripped jeans (じん). Instead you inquire how he got such a fresh style. He looks you up and down, pulls out his claws, and tears yours up to match his. You’ve completely forgotten what it was you were asking, but who cares! Look how great you look!

Question 14

編

Answer 14

Knit
Radicals: 糸 thread + 扁 library
Bring thread to the library to knit. Libraries are quiet and generally pretty empty nowadays, so it’s the perfect place to relax and do some knitting. Of course, if you find thread lying around in a library you know what to do now.
Reading: へん
You need to come to the library to knit because if you try to do it at home all your hens (へん) will try to eat the thread. Hens love eating things that look like worms, like hay, string, and thread. So it’s important to get far away from them before you start to knit.

Question 15

陸

Answer 15

Land
Radicals: 阝building + 坴 womb
A building made from a womb must be placed upon the land.
Reading: りく
The land around your womb building will, unfortunately, reek (りく) though.

Question 16

探

Answer 16

Look for
Radicals: 扌fingers + 冖 forehead + 儿 legs + 木 tree
Put your fingers to your forehead and stand your legs high up in a tree if you want to look for something. After all, shielding your eyes and getting up high is the best way to look for something, isn’t it?
Reading: たん
You look for it for so long that you can’t help getting a tan (たん). I mean, you’re up some tree, shielding your eyes from the sun as you look for that thing, and it’s been hours, days? Of course you’re going to get a tan.

Question 17

鑑

Answer 17

Model
Radicals: 金 gold + 監 oversee
You are given some gold to oversee a model. You are a famous architect, so you get a lot of gold for overseeing the construction of models like this one.
Reading: かん
As the model nears completion, you realize it’s taking the shape of Genghis Khan (かん). Was that what this was supposed to look like? You were so busy overseeing the gold in your pocket, you forgot!

Question 18

泥

Answer 18

Mud
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 尸 flag + 匕 spoon
A tsunami came in and buried your flag so now you have to use a spoon and dig it out of the mud.
Reading: どろ
You may know of Dora the Explorer. But have you heard about her dirty, muddy brother, Doro (どろ)? They’re like a team. And because of all the exploring he does, Doro is always covered in mud.

Question 19

巣

Answer 19

Nest
Radicals: 𭕄 grass + 果 fruit
Birds use grass and fruit to make their nests.
Reading: す
The bottom of the nest also seems to be padded with someone’s suit (す). Did… did this bird attack a human for this?!

Question 20

普

Answer 20

Normal
Radicals: 並 line up + 日 sun
You line up your body with the sun and everything looks normal. The sun is lined up behind you, and you’re looking at all the things the sun has lit up. Everything looks normal.
Reading: ふ
Soon you see something that doesn’t look so normal. It’s a fool (ふ), a jester. Dressed all in fool’s garb, this fool is dancing up towards you with a ridiculously unsettling grin on his face.

Question 21

妨

Answer 21

Obstruct
Radicals: 女 woman + 方 direction
A woman with direction will have things obstruct her path. It’s a sad fact that it’s still a man’s world out there!
Reading: ぼう
This woman is truly magnificent. Some compare her to a bowling (ぼう) ball, because of how she knocks down the obstructions in her path like bowling pins.

Question 22

棒

Answer 22

Pole
Radicals: 木 tree + 𡗗 spring + 干 dry
A tree in spring that’s nice and dry will make a good pole or rod. Break it out of the ground and it’s just flexible enough for tons of applications.
Reading: ぼう
After much deliberation, you decide to use this pole to go bowling (ぼう). You line up a few more poles for the pins, and roll a rock toward them.

Question 23

粉

Answer 23

Powder
Radicals: 米 rice + 分 part
If you grind rice, every part of it, eventually it will become a fine powder. You can then use this rice powder as a part to create some other dish. Some kind of cake, perhaps.
Reading: ふん
Actually, grinding the rice down to a powder is super fun (ふん). It’s so fun you don’t want to stop! AH HAHAHAHA! RICE POWDER! SO FUN!

Question 24

既

Answer 24

Previously
Radicals: 艮 root + 牙 fang
There’s a root where your fang previously was. Your fang isn’t there anymore, you ripped it out.
Reading: き
To remember the beautiful fangs you previously had, you keep all of the ones you pull out in a box you lock with a key (き).

Question 25

救

Answer 25

Rescue
Radicals: 求 request + 夂 winter
You request that winter rescue you from the warmth of the other seasons.
Reading: きゅう
You get a note in the mail from winter! This is it, you’re going to be rescued! You open the note and it says, “I have rescued you with this cucumber (きゅう).” A cucumber falls out of the note.

Question 26

似

Answer 26

Resemble
Radicals: ｲ leader + L lion + 丶drop + 人 person
A leader of (odd-looking) lions puts a drop of magic liquid on his face to look like a person resembles someone else. The leader of lions is going incognito, so he needs to resemble a person who is not himself. He takes this drop of powerful face paint and transforms.
Reading: に
Now he resembles an even greater leader, and all the lions get down on one knee (に) to pay their respects.
(Note that we recently changed this kanji’s main reading from ね to に, because ね is an irregular reading.)

Question 27

富

Answer 27

Rich
Radicals: 宀 roof + 畐 scarecrow
On your roof is a scarecrow because you’re rich. You want to scare away all the poor, non-rich people so you put a scarecrow on your roof.
Reading: ふ
You wake up the next morning and all of your riches have been stolen! You call the police and they call you a fool (ふ)! Pardon me?! “You basically put an advertisement on your roof telling everyone you’re rich. Of course you got robbed, you fool.”

Question 28

散

Answer 28

Scatter
Radicals: 龷 blackjack + 月 moon + 夂 winter
If you play blackjack on the moon in the winter, your cards will scatter everywhere. The cards scatter because the gravity is so weak on the moon, so the blackjack game is prone to disaster.
Reading: さん
You are playing blackjack with Santa-san (さん). Santa-san is doing his best to use his Christmas magic to prevent the scatter of cards, but it’s not working out so well. Good effort, Santa-san.

Question 29

華

Answer 29

Showy
Radicals: 艹 flowers + 田 rice paddy + 十 cross
Flowers growing out of a rice paddy into the shape of a cross are really showy flowers.
Reading: か
These flowers are too showy. You hate them. You hate these showy flowers so much you run them over with your car (か)!

Question 30

嘆

Answer 30

Sigh
Radicals: 口 mouth + 𦰩 chinese
You use your mouth when you see a Chinese person and you sigh. You sigh so loud that it’s practically a roar coming out of your mouth. Chinese people and Chinese things make you sigh because it reminds you of when you stayed in China and it brings up memories. The sigh is a sigh of nostalgia.
Reading: たん
Your favorite Chinese thing to do is tan (たん). You can wander around without your shirt on and tan all day. No one will sigh or scoff at you, it’s perfectly acceptable. The Chinese just love to get their tan on.

Question 31

偵

Answer 31

Spy
Radicals: ｲ leader + ト toe + 貝 shellfish
Your leader sticks his toe into a shellfish. You ask him why and he says he wants to spy on it.
Reading: てい
You and the leader review the spy footage and find a single tater (てい) tot hidden within the shellfish. Together you uncover a huge smuggling ring. Clams, oysters, mussels, you name it! Shellfish of all kinds are using their bodies to sneak tater tots to the undersea world.

Question 32

驚

Answer 32

Surprised
Radicals: 苟 poem + 夂 winter + 馬 horse
If you can write an interesting poem about winter while riding on a horse, I’ll be pretty surprised. It’s hard enough to write a poem as it is, let alone an interesting one. And then you’re riding on a horse and the poem has to be about winter? Heck, I’d be surprised if you didn’t fall off the horse and injure yourself.
Reading: きょう
You might also be surprised to learn that you are to ride this horse all across きょうと. That gives you a time limit. You have until you traverse きょうと to write this poem about winter.

Question 33

掃

Answer 33

Sweep
Radicals: 扌fingers + ヨ wolverine + 冖 forehead + 巾 towel
Wolverine ties a towel around his forehead and takes out his fingers instead of his claws so he can sweep the floor clean. When Wolverine fights, his claws are out and he makes a big ol’ mess. But once the fighting is done, it’s time to get to work and sweep the mess up.
Reading: そう
Wolverine knows that sweeping is good for the soul (そう). Plus, if you don’t help clean up after you defeat bad guys, you’re just as bad as them. Sweeping up the mess cleans your soul of any guilt too!

Question 34

菜

Answer 34

Vegetable
Radicals: 艹 flowers + ⺤ cleat + 木 tree
You want some flowers so you take your cleat to the side of a tree hoping they’ll fall down, but you get a vegetable instead. What? You kick the tree again and another, different vegetable falls out.
Reading: さい
You feed these vegetables (that you didn’t even want) to your cyborg (さい). It only needs a little though, since its stomach is so thin, so you just make it hold the rest.

Question 35

脈

Answer 35

Vein
Radicals: 月 moon + 厂 cliff + 𠂢 (without the cliff radical) tofu
Under the moon while you sit on a cliff, you inject a syringe of tofu right into your vein. Ahh, tofu. You’re addicted to it. You sneak out to the cliff at night to get your tofu fix, injecting it straight into your vein.
Reading: みゃく
Eventually, your friends and family find you at the cliff, tripping on tofu. Each and every vein on your body is engorged, pulsating with the effects of tofu. Your friends try and take you home. “You cyan’t myake (みゃく) me!” you slur, suffering from the effects of the tofu. “None of you cyan myake me go home! You cyan’t myake me! Nyah!”

Question 36

徳

Answer 36

Virtue
Radicals: 彳 loiter + 十 cross + 罒 net + 心 heart
You’re loitering, staring down at the cross that got caught in the net of your heart, because it’s trying to teach you to act with virtue.
Reading: とく
As you try to decide if you want to live a life of virtue the ghost of Tokugawa (とく) Ieyasu appears before you. He points to your heart and the cross, then points to his own and you see a glowing cross in his own.

Question 37

倉

Answer 37

Warehouse
Kanji: 倉 warehouse
The warehouse radical and the warehouse kanji are the same! You can call it a storehouse too.
Reading: そう
You have a warehouse to store all of your souls (そう). When people or animals you know pass away, you take their souls and store them in your dry warehouse for safekeeping. It’s a public service, really.