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Awe

On’yomiけい・きょう
Kun’yomiうやま.う
MeaningsAwe, Respect, Honor, Revere
JLPT N2 12 strokes #1056 most common Grade 6 Radical rap
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 敬

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 敬

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 敬

Radical 66 of 214
Rap

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 敬 is filed under (rap) — radical number 66 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 攴

練習 · Practice

Drill 敬 right now

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

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Awe けい・きょう うやま.う
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 敬

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.

敬称 けいしょう honorific title; honorific term of address
敬意 けいい respect; honour; honor
尊敬 そんけい respect; esteem; reverence
敬遠 けいえん pretending to respect (someone) while in fact staying distant; keeping at arm's length; gi
敬老 けいろう respect for the aged
敬語 けいご honorific; term of respect; polite expression
敬愛 けいあい respect and affection; love and respect
敬服 けいふく great admiration; deep respect
敬礼 けいれい salute; bow
畏敬 いけい reverence; awe; respect
名乗り · Name readings

How 敬 is read in names

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

たかたかしたけとしのりひろゆき
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 敬

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

敬 is the 1056th 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 敬

What does the kanji 敬 mean?

敬 means Awe, Respect, Honor, Revere. It is the 1056th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 敬?

敬 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) けい、きょう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) うやま.う.

How many strokes does 敬 have?

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

What level is the kanji 敬?

It appears at JLPT level N2, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 6.

What is the radical of 敬?

The radical of 敬 is 攴 (rap), radical number 66 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 敬 made of?

敬 is built from 苟 (any) and 攵 (strike). 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 敬?

Common words written with 敬 include 敬称 (けいしょう, honorific title; honorific term of address); 敬意 (けいい, respect; honour; honor); 尊敬 (そんけい, respect; esteem; reverence).

Which kanji sound the same as 敬?

敬 shares a reading with 京 (けい), 経 (けい), 強 (きょう), 協 (きょう), 教 (きょう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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