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Snapshot

On’yomiさつ
Kun’yomiと.る・つま.む・-ど.り
MeaningsSnapshot, Take Pictures
JLPT N1 15 strokes #1004 most common Secondary school Radical hand
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 撮

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

15 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 撮

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 is the phonetic component — it carries the sound rather than the meaning. That is why 撮 is read さつ. 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 撮

Radical 64 of 214
Hand

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 撮 is filed under (hand) — radical number 64 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 手

練習 · Practice

Drill 撮 right now

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

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Snapshot さつ と.る・つま.む・-ど.り
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 撮

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.

撮影 さつえい photography (still or motion); photographing; filming
撮る とる to take (a photograph); to record (audio or video); to film
撮す うつす to copy; to duplicate; to reproduce
特撮 とくさつ special effects; SFX; tokusatsu
撮む つまむ to pinch; to hold (between one's fingers); to pick up (with chopsticks, tweezers, etc.)
特殊撮影 とくしゅさつえい special effects; SFX
撮み つまみ knob; handle; button
撮方 とりかた way of taking (e.g. photographs); manner of taking; how to take
写真撮影 しゃしんさつえい photography; taking photographs
撮り方 とりかた way of taking (e.g. photographs); manner of taking; how to take
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 撮

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

画数 · 15 strokes

Other 15-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

撮 is the 1004th 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 撮

What does the kanji 撮 mean?

撮 means Snapshot, Take Pictures. It is the 1004th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 撮?

撮 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) さつ; kun'yomi (native Japanese) と.る、つま.む、-ど.り.

How many strokes does 撮 have?

撮 is written with 15 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 撮?

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

What is the radical of 撮?

The radical of 撮 is 手 (hand), radical number 64 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 撮 made of?

撮 is built from 扌 (hand) and 最 (utmost). Learning kanji as combinations of a few hundred reusable components is far more efficient than memorising each character as a separate shape.

Why is 撮 read さつ?

撮 contains 最 as its phonetic component — the part that carries the sound rather than the meaning, which is why 撮 is read さつ. 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 撮?

Common words written with 撮 include 撮影 (さつえい, photography (still or motion); photographing; filming); 撮る (とる, to take (a photograph); to record (audio or video); to film); 撮す (うつす, to copy; to duplicate; to reproduce).

Which kanji sound the same as 撮?

撮 shares a reading with 察 (さつ), 札 (さつ), 冊 (さつ), 刷 (さつ), 擦 (さつ), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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