Kanji - Level 35 - Kanji Flashcards
熊
Bear
Radicals: 能 ability + 灬 boil
The ability to boil is one of the main abilities of a bear.
Reading: くま
A bear boiling in front of you should fill you with great honor. Or, as they say in Latin: Magma cum (くま) laude.
Get it? A little hot bear humor for you.
噌
Boisterous
Radicals: 口 mouth + 曽 mask
Your mouth is wearing a mask so people won’t realize you’re the one being so boisterous as you eat your miso. If you cover your mouth with this mask, no one will know you’re such a boisterous eater of miso.
Reading: そ
You’re being boisterous and having your miso outside when suddenly someone shoves soap (そ) in your mouth. “Even your mask can’t hide that boisterous miso-eating. Quiet down and wash your mouth out with that soap!” they yell.
彫
Carve
Radicals: 周 circumference + 彡 hair
There is a circumference around someone’s hair, as in, you can see a circle drawn around the top of their head. As you examine it closer, and pull at it a bit, you realize that someone has carved the hair off someone’s head!
Reading: ちょう
When you think of all the people who could have done this… all the people who could have carved out someone’s hair, only one person comes to mind, and that is Mrs. Chou (ちょう). She’s the only person evil enough to do something like this.
杉
Cedar
Radicals: 木 tree + 彡 hair
There’s a tree in your hair, I think it’s a cedar. How did that cedar tree get in your hair?
(Certain types of cedar trees have bark that comes off in fine threads, making them very hairy trees. So this kanji makes perfect sense!)
Reading: すぎ
Once the cedar is fully grown, you use the cedar wood to make a guitar for Sue. A Sue guitar (すぎ), if you will. This Sue guitar was made just for Sue. She’ll love it.
喋
Chat
Radicals: 口 mouth + 世 world + 木 tree
The mouth of the World Tree, all it does is chat and talk.
Reading: しゃべ
To chat or talk with the World Tree, just head over to Shaman Bay (しゃべ).
銅
Copper
Radicals: 金 gold + 同 same
Gold is not the same as copper. They are two different metals. Gold is not the same as copper.
Reading: どう
Smashing the copper against the gold has made you tired. You should eat a doughnut (どう). Go get yourself a doughnut.
舎
Cottage
Radicals: 舎 cottage
The kanji and the radical that look like this are exactly the same. They are both cottage.
Reading: しゃ
You got this cottage from a shaman (しゃ). In fact, everyone you know got their cottage from a shaman. One day you’re just walking in the woods, and the next thing you know, a shaman is giving you the keys to their old cottage.
漠
Desert
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 莫 greenhouse
A tsunami hits the greenhouse, destroying the last remaining plant life in the area. The tsunami recedes, and there is nothing but sand, and the lands become a desert.
Reading: ばく
See the sun come up over the desert, then go back (ばく) down. Up, back down, back up, back down. You stand here for days watching because you’re so depressed. Stop being so vague in your approach, sun! You’re weirding everyone out!
酔
Drunk
Radicals: 酉 alcohol + 九 nine + 十 cross
You have an alcohol nine times stronger than any other drink in a bottle shaped like a cross and you drink it all and become drunk. You’re like, so drunk right now from all that alcohol. Nine times more drunk than ever before.
Reading: すい
If you drink so much that you become drunk, then your alcohol will begin to taste like water. What is the reading of 水? It’s すい, which is the reading for this kanji.
炎
Flame
Radicals: 火 fire
Fire, fire, flame! There’s flames everywhere!
Reading: えん
The flames gets bigger, surround you, and then everything ends (えん).
軒
House counter
Radicals: 車 car + 干 dry
Your car is dry because you kept it under the eaves of your house.
This kanji has a second meaning too: house counter. Imagine counting all the houses on your block by the number of eaves you see keeping cars dry.
Reading: けん
On top of the eaves of your house Ken (けん) the samurai is counting houses too.
紹
Introduce
Radicals: 糸 thread + 召 call
You create a thread with someone by calling out to them to introduce yourself.
Reading: しょう
You want to introduce yourself to the Shougun (しょう) but no matter how much you call out, he won’t come close enough for you to tie your introduction thread to him. You call louder and louder, “SHOUGUN LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF!”
介
Jammed in
Radicals: 介 jammed in
The jammed in radical and the jammed in kanji are the same!
Reading: かい
Look down! You’re jammed into something. You can’t move your feet. What is this?! Oh, your body’s been jammed in a kayak (かい).
湖
Lake
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 古 old + 月 moon
The tsunamis during the old moons (many moons ago) were responsible for the world’s lakes.
Reading: こ
“That’s where lakes come from,” you tell the 子 (こ).
講
Lecture
Radicals: 言 say + 冓 lifeguard
Try to say something to a lifeguard and you’ll just end up getting a lecture.
Reading: こう
This lecture loving lifeguard is none other than こういち! I mean, look how long winded the stuff on this site is? Can you imagine him trying to give you a talk about proper swimming etiquette?
寿
Lifespan
Radicals: 𡗗 spring + 寸 measurement
In spring, your measurements will reveal your lifespan. Only in spring can you measure your lifespan, just as easily as you measure your height and weight.
Readings: じゅ, す
If your lifespan measurement isn’t as long as you’d like, you need to drink more small juice (じゅ) boxes this year. They’re good for your health, after all!
測
Measure
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 貝 shellfish +刂 knife
A tsunami will pick up a bunch of shellfish and dump them on your shore, so you take a knife and measure them.
Reading: そく
All of the shellfish you measure that are too small go into your sock (そく). Once the sock is full, you swing it around your head and lob it back into the ocean.
厄
Misfortune
Radicals: 厂 cliff + 巳 snake
If you’re on the edge of a cliff with a snake, that’s a misfortune. You’re hanging off the edge of this cliff and you can’t pull yourself back up. Then you notice a snake approaching your fingers, looking like it’s gonna bite you. What a misfortune!
Reading: やく
Despite your misfortune, you decide to take your chances and let go of the cliff. Amazingly, a yak (やく) runs below you and catches you as you fall. Saved by the yak!
互
Mutual
Radicals: 一 ground + 彑 shuriken
The ground and a shuriken have mutual respect for one another. The shuriken respects the ground because of how solid and stable it is, and the ground respects the shuriken for how pointy it is. They have great mutual respect here.
Reading: ご
Since you made the shuriken attack the ground, the mutual respect is out of balance. This summons Godzilla (ご) up from the depths of the ocean once more. He always shows up when something is out of wack, to show humans the error of their ways. He picks up the shuriken and flings it into a city, which explodes, leaving a crater in the ground.
油
Oil
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 由 reason
This tsunami is the reason we have so much oil now. The tsunami moved a bunch of earth out of the way, so now it’s really easy to dig for oil. Thanks tsunami!
Reading: ゆ
Now that oil is so abundant, everyone lives in yurts (ゆ). They’re light and mobile, so people can just move from oil well to oil well, collecting oil.
己
Oneself
Radicals: 己 oneself
The kanji and the radical are the same, so remembering the meaning of this kanji is as simple as making sure you know the radical for oneself first! If you know the radical, you know this kanji means oneself as well.
Readings: こ, き
Oneself. Who only thinks of oneself? Every 子 (こ) in the world.
鍋
Pot
Radicals: 金 gold + 冋 mustache
A gold man has one mustache above his lip and one mustache below his lip and keeps all his extra mustaches safely tucked away in a pot. This man is made of gold and has a lot of money. That’s how he can afford to groom two mustaches at the same time. If anything should happen to one, he has plenty of back up mustaches in his mustache storage pot.
Reading: なべ
The mustachioed man’s wife asks if he loves his pot of mustaches more than he loves her. “Nah babe (なべ),” he says. “Nah, babe. Nah.”
獄
Prison
Radicals: 犭animal + 言 say + 犬 dog
You have an animal and you say it’s a dog to prevent it from going to prison. Dogs are the only animals that don’t have to go to prison. Your animal is not a dog, but you say it is to prevent it from going to prison.
Reading: ごく
What is the name of your animal? Your animal is named Goku (ごく). Yeah, like Goku from Dragon Ball Z. You don’t want your little Goku to go to prison, so you say that he’s a dog.
戚
Relatives
Radicals: 丿slide + 戈 drunkard + 上 above + 小 small
There’s a slide with a drunkard above it, and they’re making you feel small. And the worst part is that the drunkard is one of your relatives.
Reading: せき
As if things couldn’t get worse, your relative seems to think they’re sexy (せき) when they’re on the slide drunk. Sexy? More like irresponsible!
為
Sake
Radicals: 為 sake
The sake radical and the sake kanji are exactly the same! Sweet.
Reading: い
For the sake of convenience, companies will use eagles (い) for delivery jobs in the future. Just put in an order, and it’ll be at your doorstep in no time flat. Eagles are like, super fast at delivery.
恥
Shame
Radicals: 耳 ear + 心 heart
Your ear listens to your heart and feels shame. Your heart is full of shame for how you’ve lived your life and when your ear hears all the things you’ve done, your ear feels shame too.
Readings: は, はじ
You must cleanse your spirit of this shame. You decide to complete Haj (はじ). (Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam, and is a pilgrimage to Mecca during the month of Dhu al-Hijja). Upon arrival in Mecca, you think of a funny joke and bust out laughing. “HAHAHAHAHAHA!! (は) HAHAHAHAHA!!!” Oh man, you’re in a temple and that was completely inappropriate. You feel even more shame than before.
遅
Slow
Radicals: ⻌ scooter + 尸 flag + 羊 sheep
Next to the scooter, there’s a flag warning you that there are sheep around here, so you should go slow. That means you might be late, but at least the sheep will be okay!
Reading: ち
You follow the flag, but the sheep refuse to slow down so you have to get creative. You place cheese (ち) every ten feet or so, that way the sheep slow down to bend down on their scooters and take a bite.
汁
Soup
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 十 cross
A tsunami carries a cross into your soup. Hey tsunami, I was eating that soup!
Reading: じゅう
You pull the cross out of your soup and see that the cross’ jewels (じゅう) fell off and are in there now. The jewels sparkle, shine, and dissolve into the soup!
醤
Soy sauce
Radicals: 将 commander + 酉 alcohol
The commander’s alcohol is really just soy sauce. When he goes out to drink with his troops and they all get drunk together, he manages to have fun and stay sober by drinking down a tasty, non-alcoholic pint of soy sauce.
Reading: しょう
Soy sauce also happens to be the Shougun’s (しょう) favorite drink. Unfortunately, he can’t just tell people he likes drinking glasses of soy sauce, or they’ll look at him weird. Instead he orders it as a commander’s alcohol too.
滞
Stagnate
Radicals: 帯 belt + 氵tsunami
A tsunami, once stopped by a belt, will begin to stagnate. This belt is a belt of water resistance, so the belt stops the tsunami. The belt has caused the tsunami to stagnate.
Reading: たい
While you watch the tsunami stagnate, you get ready for work. While you were watching this whole thing happening, you were tying your tie (たい). Once the tsunami stagnated, you were all done tying your tie. And since the tsunami is no longer a threat, you’re ready to go to work.
剣
Sword
Radicals: 㑒 squid +刂 knife
Tie a squid to a knife and you get a sword! Knives are too small to be considered a sword on their own. That’s why you strapped a squid to it. They’re the right shape, kinda pointed, so no one will know it’s just a knife.
Reading: けん
You learned how to make swords this way from Ken (けん) the samurai. He put his own little squid buddy on his knife and now no one realizes it’s not a sword!
破
Tear
Radicals: 石 stone + 皮 skin
If you scrape a sharp stone against your skin, it will tear. The sharp stone tears your skin. It hurts!
Reading: は
The moment your skin tears you can’t help but yelp “Ha (は)!” It sounds like a laugh, but it’s more like a pained bark.
涙
Teardrop
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 戸 door + 大 big
A tsunami goes through a little door, and plops down a big drop on your face. This tsunami is your tears inside your eye area. The door is your tear duct. The big drop is the teardrop coming down your eye.
Reading: なみだ
Your teardrops are like little waves. What are they? They’re 波だ (なみだ).
亀
Turtle
Radicals: 亀 turtle
The turtle radical and the turtle kanji are exactly the same! Nice!
Reading: かめ
You know Dragon Ball Z, right? Imagine this turtle doing a Kamehameha (かめ). The turtle charges up his energy and releases a mighty Kamehameha blast. Shwooom!
酢
Vinegar
Radicals: 酉 alcohol + 乍 key
To make alcohol the key is to ferment it. But, if you ferment it a certain way, it will become vinegar.
Reading: す
You are demonstrating this practice in front of an audience. You want them to take you seriously so you wear a suit (す). A very nice suit. Surely they will now believe that you can turn alcohol into vinegar.
