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So-and-so

On’yomiぼう
Kun’yomiそれがし・なにがし
MeaningsSo-and-so, One, A Certain, That Person
JLPT N1 9 strokes #2046 most common Secondary school Radical tree
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 某

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

9 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 某

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 某

Radical 75 of 214
Tree

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 某 is filed under (tree) — radical number 75 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 木

練習 · Practice

Drill 某 right now

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So-and-so ぼう それがし・なにがし
What does it mean?
Which kanji is it?
熟語 · In real words

Words that use 某

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.

某日 ボージツ certain day
某社 ボーシャ certain company, unnamed company
某月 ボーゲツ a certain month
某氏 ボーシ a certain person, unnamed person, Mr. So-and-so, a certain someone who shall remain unname
某所 ボーショ certain place
某省 ボーショー a certain ministry, an unspecified ministry
某誌 ボーシ a certain publication
某某 ボーボー so-and-so
某々 ボーボー so-and-so
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 某

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

画数 · 9 strokes

Other 9-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

某 is the 2046th 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 某

What does the kanji 某 mean?

某 means So-and-so, One, A Certain, That Person. It is the 2046th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 某?

某 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) ぼう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) それがし、なにがし.

How many strokes does 某 have?

某 is written with 9 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 某?

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

What is the radical of 某?

The radical of 某 is 木 (tree), radical number 75 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 某 made of?

某 is built from 甘 (sweet) and 木 (tree). 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 某?

Common words written with 某 include 某日 (ボージツ, certain day); 某社 (ボーシャ, certain company, unnamed company); 某月 (ボーゲツ, a certain month).

Which kanji sound the same as 某?

某 shares a reading with 防 (ぼう), 望 (ぼう), 貿 (ぼう), 亡 (ぼう), 暴 (ぼう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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