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斗

Big Dipper

On’yomiと・とう
MeaningsBig Dipper, Ten Sho (vol), Sake Dipper, Dots And Cross Radical (no. 68)
JLPT N1 4 strokes #1832 most common Secondary school Radical 斗 dipper
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 斗

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

斗
4 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 斗

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 斗

斗 Radical 68 of 214
Dipper

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 斗 is filed under 斗 (dipper) — radical number 68 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 斗

練習 · Practice

Drill 斗 right now

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

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斗Tap to reveal
Big Dipper と・とう
斗
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 斗

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.

斗い たたかい battle; war; fight
斗争 とうそう fight; battle; combat
抽斗 ひきだし drawer; withdrawal (of money from an account); variety of knowledge and experience useful
斗う たたかう to make war (on); to wage war (against); to go to war (with)
大斗 ダイト tight
本斗 ホント bond; adhesive, glue; Bond
月斗 ゲット getting, obtaining, winning; scoring (in ice hockey, basketball, etc.)
北斗 ホクト Hokuto; BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
海斗 カイト kite
南斗 ナント Chinese "Dipper" constellation (one of the 28 mansions)
名乗り · Name readings

How 斗 is read in names

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

ます
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 斗

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

斗 is the 1832nd 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 斗

What does the kanji 斗 mean?

斗 means Big Dipper, Ten Sho (vol), Sake Dipper, Dots And Cross Radical (no. 68). It is the 1832nd most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 斗?

斗 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) と、とう.

How many strokes does 斗 have?

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

What level is the kanji 斗?

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

What is the radical of 斗?

The radical of 斗 is 斗 (dipper), radical number 68 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 斗 made of?

斗 is built from 丶 (dot) and 丶 (dot). 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 斗?

Common words written with 斗 include 斗い (たたかい, battle; war; fight); 斗争 (とうそう, fight; battle; combat); 抽斗 (ひきだし, drawer; withdrawal (of money from an account); variety of knowledge and experience useful ).

Which kanji sound the same as 斗?

斗 shares a reading with 東 (とう), 党 (とう), 当 (とう), 度 (と), 統 (とう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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