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Sardine

Kun’yomiいわし
MeaningsSardine, (kokuji)
21 strokes Name kanji Radical fish
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 鰯

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

21 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 鰯

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 鰯

Radical 195 of 214
Fish

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

Other kanji built on 魚

練習 · Practice

Drill 鰯 right now

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Sardine いわし
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 鰯

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.

真鰯 マイワシ Japanese pilchard (Sardinops melanostictus), Japanese sardine
赤鰯 アカイワシ pickled sardines, dried sardines; rusty and blunt sword
鰯雲 イワシグモ cirrocumulus cloud, mackerel sky
干鰯 ホシカ fertilizer made from dried sardines
鰯鯨 イワシクジラ sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
畳鰯 タタミイワシ sheet of dried sardines
裸鰯 ハダカイワシ lantern fish (any fish of family Myctophidae, esp. Watase's lanternfish, Diaphus watasei)
鰯節 イワシブシ dried, smoked pilchard, shavings from dried, smoked pilchard
潤目鰯 ウルメイワシ round herring (Etrumeus teres)
画数 · 21 strokes

Other 21-stroke kanji

Useful when looking a character up by stroke count — and a common source of visual mix-ups.

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質問 · Questions

About the kanji 鰯

What does the kanji 鰯 mean?

鰯 means Sardine, (kokuji).

How do you read the kanji 鰯?

鰯 is read kun'yomi (native Japanese) いわし.

How many strokes does 鰯 have?

鰯 is written with 21 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 鰯?

Japanese schoolchildren learn it in name kanji.

What is the radical of 鰯?

The radical of 鰯 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 鰯 made of?

鰯 is built from 魚 (fish) and 弱 (weak). 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 鰯?

Common words written with 鰯 include 真鰯 (マイワシ, Japanese pilchard (Sardinops melanostictus), Japanese sardine); 赤鰯 (アカイワシ, pickled sardines, dried sardines; rusty and blunt sword); 鰯雲 (イワシグモ, cirrocumulus cloud, mackerel sky).

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