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Look To

On’yomiりん
Kun’yomiのぞ.む
MeaningsLook To, Face, Meet, Confront, Attend, Call On
JLPT N1 18 strokes #711 most common Grade 6 Radical minister
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 臨

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

18 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 臨

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 臨

Radical 131 of 214
Minister

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 臨 is filed under (minister) — radical number 131 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 臣

練習 · Practice

Drill 臨 right now

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Look To りん のぞ.む
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 臨

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.

臨時 りんじ temporary; provisional; interim
臨床 りんしょう clinical (e.g. pathology, training, trial)
臨海 りんかい coastal; seaside; oceanfront
君臨 くんりん reigning (over a country); dominating; controlling
臨界 りんかい boundary; (nuclear) criticality; critical (mass, pressure, temperature, state, point, etc.
臨場感 りんじょうかん (sense of) presence; feeling as if one was there; feeling of actually being there
臨戦 りんせん preparing for action or battle
臨検 りんけん on-the-spot investigation or inspection; raid
臨機応変 りんきおうへん adapting oneself to the requirements of the moment; playing by ear; ad hoc approach
臨港 りんこう facing (along) the harbor (harbour)
名乗り · Name readings

How 臨 is read in names

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

同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 臨

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

画数 · 18 strokes

Other 18-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

臨 is the 711th 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 臨

What does the kanji 臨 mean?

臨 means Look To, Face, Meet, Confront, Attend, Call On. It is the 711th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 臨?

臨 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) りん; kun'yomi (native Japanese) のぞ.む.

How many strokes does 臨 have?

臨 is written with 18 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 臨?

It appears at JLPT level N1, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 6.

What is the radical of 臨?

The radical of 臨 is 臣 (minister), radical number 131 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 words use the kanji 臨?

Common words written with 臨 include 臨時 (りんじ, temporary; provisional; interim); 臨床 (りんしょう, clinical (e.g. pathology, training, trial)); 臨海 (りんかい, coastal; seaside; oceanfront).

Which kanji sound the same as 臨?

臨 shares a reading with 林 (りん), 輪 (りん), 鈴 (りん), 隣 (りん), 倫 (りん), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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