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Comma-design

On’yomi
Kun’yomiともえ・うずまき
JLPT N1 4 strokes #2023 most common Name kanji Radical oneself
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 巴

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 巴

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 巴

Radical 49 of 214
Oneself

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 巴 is filed under (oneself) — radical number 49 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 己

練習 · Practice

Drill 巴 right now

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Comma-design は ともえ・うずまき
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 巴

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.

巴人 ハジン uneducated bumpkin, resident of ancient Sichuan
三巴 ミツドモエ (emblem of) three comma-shaped figures arranged to form a circle; three-way fight, three-s
巴戦 トモエセン dogfight; play-off with 3 wrestlers participating
巴利 ハリ burr (e.g. on a machined edge); very, extremely, awfully, immensely
道巴 ドーハ Tuva (Russia)
巴投 トモエナゲ overhead throw in judo
巴里 パリ Paris (France)
巴豆 ハズ purging croton (Croton tiglium)
巴瓦 トモエガワラ comma-pattern tile
卍巴 マンジトモエ (fighting) in a confused mass, (falling) in swirls, (falling) in whirls
名乗り · Name readings

How 巴 is read in names

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

とも
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 巴

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

巴 is the 2023rd 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 巴

What does the kanji 巴 mean?

巴 means Comma-design. It is the 2023rd most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 巴?

巴 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) は; kun'yomi (native Japanese) ともえ、うずまき.

How many strokes does 巴 have?

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

What level is the kanji 巴?

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

What is the radical of 巴?

The radical of 巴 is 己 (oneself), radical number 49 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 巴 made of?

巴 is built from 己 (self) and 己 (self). 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 巴?

Common words written with 巴 include 巴人 (ハジン, uneducated bumpkin, resident of ancient Sichuan); 三巴 (ミツドモエ, (emblem of) three comma-shaped figures arranged to form a circle; three-way fight, three-s); 巴戦 (トモエセン, dogfight; play-off with 3 wrestlers participating).

Which kanji sound the same as 巴?

巴 shares a reading with 派 (は), 破 (は), 波 (は), 覇 (は), 把 (は), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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