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Ghost

On’yomi
Kun’yomiおに・おに-
MeaningsGhost, Devil
JLPT N1 10 strokes #1520 most common Secondary school Radical ghost
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 鬼

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 鬼

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

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Ghost
部首 · Radical

The radical of 鬼

Radical 194 of 214
Ghost

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 鬼 is filed under (ghost) — radical number 194 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 鬼

練習 · Practice

Drill 鬼 right now

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Ghost き おに・おに-
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 鬼

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.

疑心暗鬼 ぎしんあんき suspicion will raise bogies; once you suspect something, everything else will look suspici
鬼才 きさい wizard; genius; remarkable talent
吸血鬼 きゅうけつき vampire; bloodsucker
鬼気 きき ghastly; dreadful
鬼門 きもん the northeastern (unlucky) direction; person or thing to be avoided; the demon's gate
鬼子母神 きしもじん Hariti (goddess of childbirth and children)
鬼神 きしん fierce god
鬼ごっこ おにごっこ tag (children's game); tig
鬼子 オニゴ child born with teeth; child which does not resemble its parents, changeling; wild child,
悪鬼 アクキ evil spirit, demon, devil
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 鬼

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

地名 · In place names

Japanese towns written with 鬼

Place names are where kanji readings get strange — and where you meet this character in the wild.

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

鬼 is the 1520th 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 鬼

What does the kanji 鬼 mean?

鬼 means Ghost, Devil. It is the 1520th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 鬼?

鬼 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) き; kun'yomi (native Japanese) おに、おに-.

How many strokes does 鬼 have?

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

What level is the kanji 鬼?

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

What is the radical of 鬼?

The radical of 鬼 is 鬼 (ghost), radical number 194 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 鬼?

Common words written with 鬼 include 疑心暗鬼 (ぎしんあんき, suspicion will raise bogies; once you suspect something, everything else will look suspici); 鬼才 (きさい, wizard; genius; remarkable talent); 吸血鬼 (きゅうけつき, vampire; bloodsucker).

Which kanji sound the same as 鬼?

鬼 shares a reading with 気 (き), 期 (き), 機 (き), 記 (き), 基 (き), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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