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Sea Bream

On’yomiちょう
Kun’yomiたい
MeaningsSea Bream, Red Snapper
JLPT N1 19 strokes #2384 most common Name kanji Radical fish
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 鯛

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

19 strokes
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Draw it on screen and be marked on stroke order and direction.

分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 鯛

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 鯛

Radical 195 of 214
Fish

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 鯛 is filed under (fish) — radical number 195 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 魚

練習 · Practice

Drill 鯛 right now

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

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Sea Bream ちょう たい
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 鯛

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.

目鯛 メダイ Pacific barrelfish (Hyperoglyphe japonica)
的鯛 マトーダイ John Dory (Zeus faber)
平鯛 ヘダイ silver sea bream (Sparus sarba)
真鯛 マダイ red sea bream (Pagrus major), Japanese sea bream, red tai, porgy
石鯛 イシダイ striped beakfish (Oplegnathus fasciatus)
武鯛 ブダイ Japanese parrotfish (Calotomus japonicus)
黒鯛 クロダイ black porgy (Acanthopagrus schlegeli)
赤鯛 アカダイ red sea bream (i.e. the tai, Pagrus major); fish given to a tournament winner as congratul
血鯛 チダイ crimson sea bream (Evynnis japonica)
桜鯛 サクラダイ cherry anthias (Sacura margaritacea)
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 鯛

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

画数 · 19 strokes

Other 19-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

鯛 is the 2384th 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 鯛

What does the kanji 鯛 mean?

鯛 means Sea Bream, Red Snapper. It is the 2384th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 鯛?

鯛 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) ちょう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) たい.

How many strokes does 鯛 have?

鯛 is written with 19 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 鯛?

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

What is the radical of 鯛?

The radical of 鯛 is 魚 (fish), radical number 195 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 鯛 made of?

鯛 is built from 魚 (fish) and 周 (circumference). 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 鯛?

Common words written with 鯛 include 目鯛 (メダイ, Pacific barrelfish (Hyperoglyphe japonica)); 的鯛 (マトーダイ, John Dory (Zeus faber)); 平鯛 (ヘダイ, silver sea bream (Sparus sarba)).

Which kanji sound the same as 鯛?

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

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