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Fox

On’yomi
Kun’yomiきつね
9 strokes #2125 most common Radical dog
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 狐

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 狐

Almost every kanji is built from a small set of reusable parts. Learn the parts once and you stop memorising thousands of unrelated shapes.

radical
+ right melon =
Fox
部首 · Radical

The radical of 狐

Radical 94 of 214
Dog

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 狐 is filed under (dog) — radical number 94 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 犬

練習 · Practice

Drill 狐 right now

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Fox こ きつね
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 狐

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.

人狐 ニンコ fox spirit that possesses people (typical of the Chūgoku region); werefox
野狐 ノギツネ wild fox; mythical fox capable of possessing people
北狐 キタキツネ Ezo red fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki)
狐疑 コギ doubt, suspicion, hesitation, indecision
空狐 クーコ fox with supernatural powers
狐井 キツイ tough, hard, severe, demanding, harsh; determined, strong-minded, forceful, formidable, fi
銀狐 ギンギツネ silver fox
白狐 シロギツネ old, white fox (trad. said to have supernatural powers); Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus)
古狐 フルギツネ old fox, old-timer, schemer
天狐 テンコ celestial fox, fox with supernatural powers (sometimes said to live in the heavens)
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 狐

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

狐 is the 2125th 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 狐

What does the kanji 狐 mean?

狐 means Fox. It is the 2125th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 狐?

狐 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) こ; kun'yomi (native Japanese) きつね.

How many strokes does 狐 have?

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

What is the radical of 狐?

The radical of 狐 is 犬 (dog), radical number 94 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 狐 made of?

狐 is built from ⺨ and 瓜 (melon). 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 狐?

Common words written with 狐 include 人狐 (ニンコ, fox spirit that possesses people (typical of the Chūgoku region); werefox); 野狐 (ノギツネ, wild fox; mythical fox capable of possessing people); 北狐 (キタキツネ, Ezo red fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki)).

Which kanji sound the same as 狐?

狐 shares a reading with 去 (こ), 個 (こ), 呼 (こ), 古 (こ), 戸 (こ), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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