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Nail

On’yomiてい・ちょう
Kun’yomiくぎ
MeaningsNail, Tack, Peg
10 strokes #2434 most common Name kanji Radical gold
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 釘

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

10 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 釘

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 釘

Radical 167 of 214
Gold

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 釘 is filed under (gold) — radical number 167 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 金

練習 · Practice

Drill 釘 right now

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

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Nail てい・ちょう くぎ
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 釘

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.

装釘 そうてい binding (of a book); design (of a book cover)
金釘 カナクギ iron nail, metal nail
目釘 メクギ rivet on a sword hilt
木釘 キクギ wooden peg
釘付 クギズケ nailing on, nailing down, nailing shut, being glued (to), being unable to take one's eyes
釘抜 クギヌキ pincers, nail puller
釘隠 クギカクシ nail hider, nailhead cover
犬釘 イヌクギ spike, dog nail
裝釘 ソーテー binding (of a book); design (of a book cover)
釘付け クギズケ nailing on, nailing down, nailing shut, being glued (to), being unable to take one's eyes
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 釘

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

画数 · 10 strokes

Other 10-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

釘 is the 2434th 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 釘

What does the kanji 釘 mean?

釘 means Nail, Tack, Peg. It is the 2434th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 釘?

釘 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) てい、ちょう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) くぎ.

How many strokes does 釘 have?

釘 is written with 10 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 釘?

Japanese schoolchildren learn it in name kanji.

What is the radical of 釘?

The radical of 釘 is 金 (gold), radical number 167 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 釘 made of?

釘 is built from 金 (gold) and 丁 (street). 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 釘?

Common words written with 釘 include 装釘 (そうてい, binding (of a book); design (of a book cover)); 金釘 (カナクギ, iron nail, metal nail); 目釘 (メクギ, rivet on a sword hilt).

Which kanji sound the same as 釘?

釘 shares a reading with 長 (ちょう), 定 (てい), 場 (ちょう), 調 (ちょう), 体 (てい), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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