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Bases

On’yomiるい・らい・すい
Kun’yomiとりで
MeaningsBases, Fort, Rampart, Walls, Base(ball)
JLPT N1 12 strokes #642 most common Secondary school Radical earth
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 塁

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

12 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 塁

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 畾V is the phonetic component — it carries the sound rather than the meaning. That is why 塁 is read るい. 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 塁

Radical 32 of 214
Earth

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 塁 is filed under (earth) — radical number 32 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 土

練習 · Practice

Drill 塁 right now

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

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Bases るい・らい・すい とりで
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 塁

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.

本塁打 ほんるいだ home run
二塁 にるい second base
三塁 さんるい third base
満塁 まんるい bases loaded
二塁打 にるいだ two-base hit; double
一塁 いちるい first base; first baseman; one fort
三塁打 さんるいだ three-base hit; triple
盗塁 とうるい base stealing; steal; stolen base
本塁 ほんるい base; stronghold; main fort
走塁 そうるい base running
名乗り · Name readings

How 塁 is read in names

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

同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 塁

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

画数 · 12 strokes

Other 12-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

塁 is the 642nd 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 塁

What does the kanji 塁 mean?

塁 means Bases, Fort, Rampart, Walls, Base(ball). It is the 642nd most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 塁?

塁 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) るい、らい、すい; kun'yomi (native Japanese) とりで.

How many strokes does 塁 have?

塁 is written with 12 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 塁?

It appears at JLPT level N1, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in secondary school.

What is the radical of 塁?

The radical of 塁 is 土 (earth), radical number 32 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.

Why is 塁 read るい?

塁 contains 畾V as its phonetic component — the part that carries the sound rather than the meaning, which is why 塁 is read るい. 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 塁?

Common words written with 塁 include 本塁打 (ほんるいだ, home run); 二塁 (にるい, second base); 三塁 (さんるい, third base).

Which kanji sound the same as 塁?

塁 shares a reading with 来 (らい), 頼 (らい), 瀬 (らい), 礼 (らい), 涙 (るい), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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