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Decorate

On’yomiしょく
Kun’yomiかざ.る・かざ.り
MeaningsDecorate, Ornament, Adorn, Embellish
JLPT N1 13 strokes #1167 most common Secondary school Radical eat
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 飾

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

13 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 飾

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

radical eat =
Decorate
Why it sounds the way it does. The part is the phonetic component — it carries the sound rather than the meaning. That is why 飾 is read しょく. 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 飾

Radical 184 of 214
Eat

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 飾 is filed under (eat) — radical number 184 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 食

練習 · Practice

Drill 飾 right now

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Decorate しょく かざ.る・かざ.り
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 飾

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.

装飾 そうしょく ornament; decoration
飾り かざり decoration; ornament; trimmings
飾る かざる to decorate; to ornament; to adorn
服飾 ふくしょく clothing and accessories; attire
宝飾 ほうしょく jewels and ornaments; jewelry; jewellery
粉飾 ふんしょく embellishment (e.g. of a story); ornamentation; decoration
扮飾 ふんしょく embellishment (e.g. of a story); ornamentation; decoration
着飾る きかざる to dress up
飾付 かざりつけ decoration; arrangement
飾り付け かざりつけ decoration; arrangement
名乗り · Name readings

How 飾 is read in names

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

しか
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 飾

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

画数 · 13 strokes

Other 13-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

飾 is the 1167th 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 飾

What does the kanji 飾 mean?

飾 means Decorate, Ornament, Adorn, Embellish. It is the 1167th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 飾?

飾 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) しょく; kun'yomi (native Japanese) かざ.る、かざ.り.

How many strokes does 飾 have?

飾 is written with 13 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 飾?

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

What is the radical of 飾?

The radical of 飾 is 食 (eat), radical number 184 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.

Why is 飾 read しょく?

飾 contains 食 as its phonetic component — the part that carries the sound rather than the meaning, which is why 飾 is read しょく. 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 飾?

Common words written with 飾 include 装飾 (そうしょく, ornament; decoration); 飾り (かざり, decoration; ornament; trimmings); 飾る (かざる, to decorate; to ornament; to adorn).

Which kanji sound the same as 飾?

飾 shares a reading with 続 (しょく), 職 (しょく), 食 (しょく), 織 (しょく), 色 (しょく), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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