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Masses

On’yomiしゅう・しゅ
Kun’yomiおお.い
MeaningsMasses, Great Numbers, Multitude, Populace
JLPT N1 12 strokes #446 most common Grade 6 Radical blood
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 衆

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

12 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 衆

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 衆

Radical 143 of 214
Blood

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 衆 is filed under (blood) — radical number 143 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 血

練習 · Practice

Drill 衆 right now

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Masses しゅう・しゅ おお.い
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 衆

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.

衆院 しゅういん House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)
大衆 たいしゅう general public; the masses
民衆 みんしゅう people; populace; masses
聴衆 ちょうしゅう audience; attendance; hearers
衆議院 しゅうぎいん House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)
観衆 かんしゅう spectators; onlookers; members of the audience
公衆電話 こうしゅうでんわ public telephone; pay phone
群衆 ぐんしゅう group (of people); crowd; horde
公衆 こうしゅう the public; general public
公衆衛生 こうしゅうえいせい public health; public hygiene; sanitation
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 衆

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

画数 · 12 strokes

Other 12-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

衆 is the 446th 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 衆

What does the kanji 衆 mean?

衆 means Masses, Great Numbers, Multitude, Populace. It is the 446th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 衆?

衆 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) しゅう、しゅ; kun'yomi (native Japanese) おお.い.

How many strokes does 衆 have?

衆 is written with 12 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 衆?

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

What is the radical of 衆?

The radical of 衆 is 血 (blood), radical number 143 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 衆?

Common words written with 衆 include 衆院 (しゅういん, House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)); 大衆 (たいしゅう, general public; the masses); 民衆 (みんしゅう, people; populace; masses).

Which kanji sound the same as 衆?

衆 shares a reading with 手 (しゅ), 最 (しゅ), 主 (しゅ), 首 (しゅ), 取 (しゅ), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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