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Prohibition

On’yomiきん
MeaningsProhibition, Ban, Forbid
JLPT N2 13 strokes #670 most common Grade 5 Radical spirit
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 禁

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

13 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 禁

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 禁

Radical 113 of 214
Spirit

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 禁 is filed under (spirit) — radical number 113 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 示

練習 · Practice

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Prohibition きん
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 禁

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.

禁止 きんし prohibition; inhibition; ban
解禁 かいきん lifting a ban; raising an embargo; opening a season (hunting, fishing, etc.)
禁煙 きんえん abstaining from smoking; quitting smoking; prohibition of smoking
禁烟 きんえん abstaining from smoking; quitting smoking; prohibition of smoking
独禁法 どっきんほう antitrust law; Antitrust Act
禁輸 きんゆ embargo
禁止法 きんしほう negative statute; law against something
監禁 かんきん confinement; imprisonment; incarceration
禁固 きんこ imprisonment (without forced labour); incarceration; confinement
禁錮 きんこ imprisonment (without forced labour); incarceration; confinement
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 禁

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

画数 · 13 strokes

Other 13-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

禁 is the 670th 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 禁

What does the kanji 禁 mean?

禁 means Prohibition, Ban, Forbid. It is the 670th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 禁?

禁 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) きん.

How many strokes does 禁 have?

禁 is written with 13 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 禁?

It appears at JLPT level N2, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 5.

What is the radical of 禁?

The radical of 禁 is 示 (spirit), radical number 113 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 禁 made of?

禁 is built from 林 (grove) and 示 (show). 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 禁?

Common words written with 禁 include 禁止 (きんし, prohibition; inhibition; ban); 解禁 (かいきん, lifting a ban; raising an embargo; opening a season (hunting, fishing, etc.)); 禁煙 (きんえん, abstaining from smoking; quitting smoking; prohibition of smoking).

Which kanji sound the same as 禁?

禁 shares a reading with 今 (きん), 金 (きん), 近 (きん), 緊 (きん), 均 (きん), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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