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Malt

On’yomiきく
Kun’yomiこうじ
MeaningsMalt, Yeast
15 strokes #1935 most common Radical wheat
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 麹

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

15 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 麹

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 麹

Radical 199 of 214
Wheat

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 麹 is filed under (wheat) — radical number 199 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 麥

練習 · Practice

Drill 麹 right now

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

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Malt きく こうじ
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 麹

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.

米麹 コメコージ kōji, malted rice
製麹 セーキク koji production
麹室 コージムロ room for producing kōji
塩麹 シオコージ salted kōji (traditional condiment)
紅麹 ベニコージ Monascus purpureus (species of mold), ang-khak
麹菌 コージキン koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae)
麦麹 ムギコージ barley kōji
麹塵 キクジン yellow-green tinged with grey
麹漬け コージズケ fish, meat, vegetables, etc. pickled in kōji and salt, food pickled in malted rice
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 麹

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

画数 · 15 strokes

Other 15-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

麹 is the 1935th 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 麹

What does the kanji 麹 mean?

麹 means Malt, Yeast. It is the 1935th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 麹?

麹 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) きく; kun'yomi (native Japanese) こうじ.

How many strokes does 麹 have?

麹 is written with 15 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What is the radical of 麹?

The radical of 麹 is 麥 (wheat), radical number 199 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 麹 made of?

麹 is built from 麦 (barley) and 匊 (handful). 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 麹?

Common words written with 麹 include 米麹 (コメコージ, kōji, malted rice); 製麹 (セーキク, koji production); 麹室 (コージムロ, room for producing kōji).

Which kanji sound the same as 麹?

麹 shares a reading with 菊 (きく), 掬 (きく), 鞠 (きく), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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