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Praise

On’yomiほう
Kun’yomiほ.める
MeaningsPraise, Extol
JLPT N1 15 strokes #2014 most common Secondary school Radical clothes
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 褒

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

15 strokes
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Draw it on screen and be marked on stroke order and direction.

分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 褒

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

Why it sounds the way it does. The part is the phonetic component — it carries the sound rather than the meaning. That is why 褒 is read ほう. Roughly two-thirds of all kanji work this way, which makes unfamiliar readings guessable once you spot the pattern.
部首 · Radical

The radical of 褒

Radical 145 of 214
Clothes

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 褒 is filed under (clothes) — radical number 145 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 衣

練習 · Practice

Drill 褒 right now

Three quick games built from this character's real data. Your streak is kept in this browser.

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Praise ほう ほ.める
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 褒

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.

褒奨金 ほうしょうきん cash bonus; reward; bounty
紫綬褒賞 しじゅほうしょう Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (awarded for scholarly or artistic achievement)
紫綬褒章 しじゅほうしょう Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (awarded for scholarly or artistic achievement)
褒賞 ほうしょう prize; award; reward
褒める ほめる to praise; to commend; to compliment
褒美 ほうび reward; prize
褒章 ほうしょう medal of honour; medal of merit
藍綬褒章 らんじゅほうしょう Medal with Blue Ribbon
御褒美 ごほうび reward; prize; treat
ご褒美 ごほうび reward; prize; treat
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 褒

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

画数 · 15 strokes

Other 15-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

褒 is the 2014th 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 褒

What does the kanji 褒 mean?

褒 means Praise, Extol. It is the 2014th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 褒?

褒 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) ほう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) ほ.める.

How many strokes does 褒 have?

褒 is written with 15 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 褒?

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

What is the radical of 褒?

The radical of 褒 is 衣 (clothes), radical number 145 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 褒 made of?

褒 is built from 衣 (garment) and 保 (protect) and 衣 (garment). Learning kanji as combinations of a few hundred reusable components is far more efficient than memorising each character as a separate shape.

Why is 褒 read ほう?

褒 contains 保 as its phonetic component — the part that carries the sound rather than the meaning, which is why 褒 is read ほう. Roughly two-thirds of all kanji are built this way, so spotting the phonetic component often lets you guess the reading of a character you have never seen.

What words use the kanji 褒?

Common words written with 褒 include 褒奨金 (ほうしょうきん, cash bonus; reward; bounty); 紫綬褒賞 (しじゅほうしょう, Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (awarded for scholarly or artistic achievement)); 紫綬褒章 (しじゅほうしょう, Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (awarded for scholarly or artistic achievement)).

Which kanji sound the same as 褒?

褒 shares a reading with 方 (ほう), 法 (ほう), 保 (ほう), 報 (ほう), 放 (ほう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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