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Charging Ahead Of Others

On’yomiかい
Kun’yomiさきがけ・かしら
JLPT N1 14 strokes #2048 most common Name kanji Radical ghost
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 魁

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

14 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 魁

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 ghost + nyoc Big Dipper =
Charging Ahead Of Others
部首 · Radical

The radical of 魁

Radical 194 of 214
Ghost

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

Other kanji built on 鬼

練習 · Practice

Drill 魁 right now

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Charging Ahead Of Others かい さきがけ・かしら
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 魁

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.

魁ける さきがける to do (something) before (something or someone else); to be ahead of (others, the times, e
魁人 カイト kite
主魁 シュカイ forerunner, ringleader
首魁 シュカイ forerunner, ringleader
花魁 オイラン oiran
魁徒 カイト kite
巨魁 キョカイ ringleader, chief
魁偉 カイイ brawny, muscular, impressive, gigantic
渠魁 キョカイ ringleader, chief
魁れ サキガケレ to do (something) before (something or someone else), to be ahead of (others, the times, e
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 魁

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

画数 · 14 strokes

Other 14-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

魁 is the 2048th 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 魁

What does the kanji 魁 mean?

魁 means Charging Ahead Of Others. It is the 2048th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 魁?

魁 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) かい; kun'yomi (native Japanese) さきがけ、かしら.

How many strokes does 魁 have?

魁 is written with 14 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 魁?

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

What is the radical of 魁?

The radical of 魁 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 parts is the kanji 魁 made of?

魁 is built from 鬼 (ghost) and 斗 (Big Dipper). 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 魁?

Common words written with 魁 include 魁ける (さきがける, to do (something) before (something or someone else); to be ahead of (others, the times, e); 魁人 (カイト, kite); 主魁 (シュカイ, forerunner, ringleader).

Which kanji sound the same as 魁?

魁 shares a reading with 会 (かい), 回 (かい), 開 (かい), 改 (かい), 界 (かい), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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