労
労 — Labor
labor, thank for, reward for, toil, trouble
On’yomiロウ (rou)
Kun’yomiろうする (rousuru)
Kun’yomiいたわる (itawaru)
Kun’yomiいたずき (itazuki)
Kun’yomiねぎら (negira)
Kun’yomiつかれる (tsukareru)
Stroke order (7 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 労
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 労働 | ろうどう roudou | labor; labour; work |
| 労働者 | ろうどうしゃ roudousha | worker; (manual) laborer; labourer |
| 労組 | ろうそ rouso | labor union; labour union; trade union |
| 労働省 | ろうどうしょう roudoushou | Ministry of Labour (now Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) |
| 労働党 | ろうどうとう roudoutou | Labour Party; Labor Party |
| 苦労 | くろう kurou | trouble; hardship; difficulty |
Study notes
労 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #398 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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