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Gone

On’yomiきょ・こ
Kun’yomiさ.る・-さ.る
MeaningsGone, Past, Quit, Leave, Elapse, Eliminate
5 strokes #436 most common Grade 3 Radical private
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 去

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

5 strokes
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分解 · What it is made of

The parts of 去

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 去

Radical 28 of 214
Private

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 去 is filed under (private) — radical number 28 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 厶

練習 · Practice

Drill 去 right now

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

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Gone きょ・こ さ.る・-さ.る
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 去

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.

過去 かこ the past; bygone days; one's past (that one would prefer remained secret)
死去 しきょ death; decease; passing away
撤去 てっきょ removal; taking away; dismantling (a building, facilities, etc.)
除去 じょきょ removal; getting rid of
去年 きょねん last year
退去 たいきょ departure; leaving; going away
置去り おきざり leaving behind; desertion; abandonment
置き去り おきざり leaving behind; desertion; abandonment
おき去り おきざり leaving behind; desertion; abandonment
去就 きょしゅう leaving or staying; (one's) course of action; (one's) position
名乗り · Name readings

How 去 is read in names

Japanese names use readings that appear nowhere else in the language. These are 去's — the reason personal and place names are so hard to read even for native speakers.

同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 去

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

画数 · 5 strokes

Other 5-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

去 is the 436th 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 去

What does the kanji 去 mean?

去 means Gone, Past, Quit, Leave, Elapse, Eliminate. It is the 436th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 去?

去 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) きょ、こ; kun'yomi (native Japanese) さ.る、-さ.る.

How many strokes does 去 have?

去 is written with 5 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 去?

Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 3.

What is the radical of 去?

The radical of 去 is 厶 (private), radical number 28 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 去 made of?

去 is built from 土 (soil) and 厶 (I). 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 去?

Common words written with 去 include 過去 (かこ, the past; bygone days; one's past (that one would prefer remained secret)); 死去 (しきょ, death; decease; passing away); 撤去 (てっきょ, removal; taking away; dismantling (a building, facilities, etc.)).

Which kanji sound the same as 去?

去 shares a reading with 挙 (きょ), 個 (こ), 呼 (こ), 古 (こ), 戸 (こ), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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