Nihoner
漢字 Kanji list Games
Log in Play Kanji Duel

Jammed In

On’yomiかい
MeaningsJammed In, Shellfish, Mediate, Concern Oneself With
JLPT N2 4 strokes #608 most common Secondary school Radical man
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 介

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

4 strokes
✎ Now write it yourself

Draw it on screen and be marked on stroke order and direction.

分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 介

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 person =
Jammed In
部首 · Radical

The radical of 介

Radical 9 of 214
Man

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 介 is filed under (man) — radical number 9 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 人

練習 · Practice

Drill 介 right now

Three quick games built from this character's real data. Your streak is kept in this browser.

0Streak
0Best
0Correct
Tap to reveal
Jammed In かい
What does it mean?
Which kanji is it?
熟語 · In real words

Words that use 介

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.

介入 かいにゅう intervention
介護 かいご nursing; care; caregiving
仲介 ちゅうかい agency; intermediation
紹介 しょうかい introduction; presentation; referral
魚介類 ぎょかいるい marine products; seafood; fish and shellfish
介助 かいじょ help; assistance; aid
介在 かいざい existing (between); interposition; intervention
厄介 やっかい trouble; burden; nuisance
媒介 ばいかい mediation; agency; serving as a medium
自己紹介 じこしょうかい self-introduction
名乗り · Name readings

How 介 is read in names

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

すけゆき
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 介

Japanese has far more kanji than syllables, so one reading is shared by many characters. These are the ones you will confuse with 介 — 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

介 is the 608th most common kanji in written Japanese. Learning in frequency order is the fastest route to reading real text.

Think you know which kanji is more common?

Kanji Duel pits 介 and 3,000 others head to head. One life. How long can you last?

Enter the Duel →
質問 · Questions

About the kanji 介

What does the kanji 介 mean?

介 means Jammed In, Shellfish, Mediate, Concern Oneself With. It is the 608th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 介?

介 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) かい.

How many strokes does 介 have?

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

What level is the kanji 介?

It appears at JLPT level N2, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in secondary school.

What is the radical of 介?

The radical of 介 is 人 (man), radical number 9 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 介?

Common words written with 介 include 介入 (かいにゅう, intervention); 介護 (かいご, nursing; care; caregiving); 仲介 (ちゅうかい, agency; intermediation).

Which kanji sound the same as 介?

介 shares a reading with 会 (かい), 回 (かい), 開 (かい), 改 (かい), 界 (かい), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

None of this is being saved

Signed in, we would remember every character you have looked at — and write you reading you can actually get through, built from exactly those.

Start remembering — free
Free account · 3 passages a day · no card