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Sign Of The Ox Or Cow

On’yomiちゅう
Kun’yomiうし
MeaningsSign Of The Ox Or Cow, 1-3am, Second Sign Of Chinese Zodiac
JLPT N1 4 strokes #2243 most common Name kanji Radical one
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 丑

Stroke order is not decoration — it determines how the character looks handwritten and how dictionaries index it.

4 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 丑

Almost every kanji is built from a small set of reusable parts. Learn the parts once and you stop memorising thousands of unrelated shapes.

radical one =
Sign Of The Ox Or Cow
部首 · Radical

The radical of 丑

Radical 1 of 214
One

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 丑 is filed under (one) — radical number 1 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 一

練習 · Practice

Drill 丑 right now

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Sign Of The Ox Or Cow ちゅう うし
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 丑

Kanji are almost never met alone. These are the most common words built from this character, ordered by how often they actually appear in Japanese.

丑年 ウシドシ year of the Ox
己丑 キチュー Earth Ox (26th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1949, 2009, 2069)
丁丑 テーチュー Fire Ox (14th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1937, 1997, 2057)
辛丑 シンチュー Metal Ox (38th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1961, 2021, 2081)
乙丑 キノトウシ Wood Ox (2nd term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1925, 1985, 2045)
癸丑 キチュー Water Ox (50th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1913, 1973, 2033)
名乗り · Name readings

How 丑 is read in names

Japanese names use readings that appear nowhere else in the language. These are 丑's — the reason personal and place names are so hard to read even for native speakers.

ひろ
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 丑

Japanese has far more kanji than syllables, so one reading is shared by many characters. These are the ones you will confuse with 丑 — learn them together, not separately.

画数 · 4 strokes

Other 4-stroke kanji

Useful when looking a character up by stroke count — and a common source of visual mix-ups.

頻度 · Frequency

Next in the frequency list

丑 is the 2243rd most common kanji in written Japanese. Learning in frequency order is the fastest route to reading real text.

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質問 · Questions

About the kanji 丑

What does the kanji 丑 mean?

丑 means Sign Of The Ox Or Cow, 1-3am, Second Sign Of Chinese Zodiac. It is the 2243rd most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 丑?

丑 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) ちゅう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) うし.

How many strokes does 丑 have?

丑 is written with 4 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 丑?

It appears at JLPT level N1, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in name kanji.

What is the radical of 丑?

The radical of 丑 is 一 (one), radical number 1 of the 214 Kangxi radicals. The radical is the component a dictionary files the character under, and it usually points at the character's meaning.

What words use the kanji 丑?

Common words written with 丑 include 丑年 (ウシドシ, year of the Ox); 己丑 (キチュー, Earth Ox (26th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1949, 2009, 2069)); 丁丑 (テーチュー, Fire Ox (14th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1937, 1997, 2057)).

Which kanji sound the same as 丑?

丑 shares a reading with 中 (ちゅう), 注 (ちゅう), 仲 (ちゅう), 沖 (ちゅう), 駐 (ちゅう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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