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Stone

On’yomiせき・しゃく・こく
Kun’yomiいし
5 strokes #340 most common Grade 1 Radical stone
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 石

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 石

Almost every kanji is built from a small set of reusable parts. Learn the parts once and you stop memorising thousands of unrelated shapes.

part mouth =
Stone
部首 · Radical

The radical of 石

Radical 112 of 214
Stone

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 石 is filed under (stone) — radical number 112 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 石

練習 · Practice

Drill 石 right now

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

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Stone せき・しゃく・こく いし
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 石

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.

石油 せきゆ oil; petroleum; kerosene
化石 かせき fossil; petrifaction; petrification
石文 いしぶみ stone monument bearing an inscription (esp. memorial for future generations); stele; stela
石炭 せきたん coal
石橋 いしばし stone bridge
宝石 ほうせき gem; jewel; precious stone
海石榴 つばき common camellia (Camellia japonica); tea produced in the mountains
土石 どせき earth and stones
石垣 いしがき stone wall
石崖 いしがき stone wall
名乗り · Name readings

How 石 is read in names

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

いさいすいわせっく
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 石

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

地名 · In place names

Japanese towns written with 石

Place names are where kanji readings get strange — and where you meet this character in the wild.

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

石 is the 340th 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 石

What does the kanji 石 mean?

石 means Stone. It is the 340th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 石?

石 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) せき、しゃく、こく; kun'yomi (native Japanese) いし.

How many strokes does 石 have?

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

What level is the kanji 石?

Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 1.

What is the radical of 石?

The radical of 石 is 石 (stone), radical number 112 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 words use the kanji 石?

Common words written with 石 include 石油 (せきゆ, oil; petroleum; kerosene); 化石 (かせき, fossil; petrifaction; petrification); 石文 (いしぶみ, stone monument bearing an inscription (esp. memorial for future generations); stele; stela).

Which kanji sound the same as 石?

石 shares a reading with 席 (せき), 積 (せき), 赤 (せき), 責 (せき), 績 (せき), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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