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Other

On’yomi
Kun’yomiほか
MeaningsOther, Another, The Others
JLPT N3 5 strokes #535 most common Grade 3 Radical man
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 他

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

5 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 他

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

Why it sounds the way it does. The part 也/它 is the phonetic component — it carries the sound rather than the meaning. That is why 他 is read . Roughly two-thirds of all kanji work this way, which makes unfamiliar readings guessable once you spot the pattern.
部首 · Radical

The radical of 他

Radical 9 of 214
Man

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

Other kanji built on 人

練習 · Practice

Drill 他 right now

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Other た ほか
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 他

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.

他人 たにん another person; other people; others
他国 たこく foreign country; another country; another province
他社 たしゃ another company; other company
他方 たほう one (esp. of two); the other; one way
他派 たは the other group
排他 はいた exclusion
自他 じた oneself and others; subject and object; transitivity
他殺 たさつ murder
他意 たい other intention; hidden purpose; ulterior motive
他人様 ひとさま other people; others
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 他

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

画数 · 5 strokes

Other 5-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

他 is the 535th 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 他

What does the kanji 他 mean?

他 means Other, Another, The Others. It is the 535th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 他?

他 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) た; kun'yomi (native Japanese) ほか.

How many strokes does 他 have?

他 is written with 5 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 他?

It appears at JLPT level N3, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 3.

What is the radical of 他?

The radical of 他 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 parts is the kanji 他 made of?

他 is built from 亻 (radical number 9) and 也 (to be (classical)). Learning kanji as combinations of a few hundred reusable components is far more efficient than memorising each character as a separate shape.

Why is 他 read た?

他 contains 也/它 as its phonetic component — the part that carries the sound rather than the meaning, which is why 他 is read た. Roughly two-thirds of all kanji are built this way, so spotting the phonetic component often lets you guess the reading of a character you have never seen.

What words use the kanji 他?

Common words written with 他 include 他人 (たにん, another person; other people; others); 他国 (たこく, foreign country; another country; another province); 他社 (たしゃ, another company; other company).

Which kanji sound the same as 他?

他 shares a reading with 多 (た), 太 (た), 駄 (た), 舵 (た), 楕 (た), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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