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Rest

On’yomiきゅう
Kun’yomiやす.む・やす.まる・やす.める
MeaningsRest, Day Off, Retire, Sleep
JLPT N5 6 strokes #633 most common Grade 1 Radical man
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 休

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

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

分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 休

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

部首 · Radical

The radical of 休

Radical 9 of 214
Man

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

Other kanji built on 人

練習 · Practice

Drill 休 right now

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

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Rest きゅう やす.む・やす.まる・やす.める
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 休

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.

休日 きゅうじつ holiday; day off
休暇 きゅうか holiday; vacation; day off
休み やすみ rest; recess; respite
夏休み なつやすみ summer vacation; summer holiday
連休 れんきゅう consecutive holidays
休業 きゅうぎょう suspension of business; temporary closure (of a store, school, etc.); shutdown
休憩 きゅうけい rest; break; recess
休けい きゅうけい rest; break; recess
週休 しゅうきゅう weekly holiday
休戦 きゅうせん cease-fire; truce; armistice
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 休

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

画数 · 6 strokes

Other 6-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

休 is the 633rd 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 休

What does the kanji 休 mean?

休 means Rest, Day Off, Retire, Sleep. It is the 633rd most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 休?

休 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) きゅう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) やす.む、やす.まる、やす.める.

How many strokes does 休 have?

休 is written with 6 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 休?

It appears at JLPT level N5, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 1.

What is the radical of 休?

The radical of 休 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 休 made of?

休 is built from 亻 (radical number 9) and 木 (tree). Learning kanji as combinations of a few hundred reusable components is far more efficient than memorising each character as a separate shape.

What words use the kanji 休?

Common words written with 休 include 休日 (きゅうじつ, holiday; day off); 休暇 (きゅうか, holiday; vacation; day off); 休み (やすみ, rest; recess; respite).

Which kanji sound the same as 休?

休 shares a reading with 九 (きゅう), 求 (きゅう), 球 (きゅう), 急 (きゅう), 宮 (きゅう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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