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West

On’yomiゆう
Kun’yomiとり
MeaningsWest, Bird, Sign Of The Bird, 5-7pm, Tenth Sign Of Chinese Zodiac, Sake Radical (no. 164)
JLPT N1 7 strokes #2406 most common Name kanji Radical wine
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 酉

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

7 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 酉

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 酉

Radical 164 of 214
Wine

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 酉 is filed under (wine) — radical number 164 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 酉

練習 · Practice

Drill 酉 right now

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

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West ゆう とり
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 酉

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.

酉年 トリドシ year of the Rooster, year of the Cock
己酉 キユー Earth Rooster (46th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1909, 1969, 2029)
丁酉 テーユー Fire Rooster (34th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1957, 2017, 2077)
酉偏 トリヘン kanji "bird of the zodiac" radical (radical 164)
辛酉 カノトトリ Metal Rooster (58th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1921, 1981, 2041)
乙酉 キノトトリ Wood Rooster (22nd term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1945, 2005, 2065)
癸酉 キユー Water Rooster (10th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1933, 1993, 2053)
一の酉 イチノトリ first day of the cock in the eleventh month
酉の市 トリノイチ tori-no-ichi (held at Ōtori Shrine on each day of the Rooster in November)
名乗り · Name readings

How 酉 is read in names

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

ながみのる
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 酉

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

画数 · 7 strokes

Other 7-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

酉 is the 2406th 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 酉

What does the kanji 酉 mean?

酉 means West, Bird, Sign Of The Bird, 5-7pm, Tenth Sign Of Chinese Zodiac, Sake Radical (no. 164). It is the 2406th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 酉?

酉 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) ゆう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) とり.

How many strokes does 酉 have?

酉 is written with 7 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 酉?

It appears at JLPT level N1, and Japanese schoolchildren learn it in name kanji.

What is the radical of 酉?

The radical of 酉 is 酉 (wine), radical number 164 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 酉 made of?

酉 is built from 西 (west) and 一 (one) and 西 (west). 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 酉?

Common words written with 酉 include 酉年 (トリドシ, year of the Rooster, year of the Cock); 己酉 (キユー, Earth Rooster (46th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1909, 1969, 2029)); 丁酉 (テーユー, Fire Rooster (34th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1957, 2017, 2077)).

Which kanji sound the same as 酉?

酉 shares a reading with 有 (ゆう), 由 (ゆう), 優 (ゆう), 融 (ゆう), 右 (ゆう), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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