句
句 — Phrase
phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph, counter for haiku
On’yomiク (ku)
Kun’yomi—
Stroke order (5 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 句
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 俳句 | はいく haiku | haiku; 17-mora poem, usu. in 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 morae |
| 文句 | もんく monku | complaint; grumbling; objection |
| 句 | く ku | section (i.e. of text); sentence; passage |
| 句集 | くしゅう kushuu | collection of haiku poems |
| 慣用句 | かんようく kanyouku | idiom; set phrase; idiomatic phrase |
| 禁句 | きんく kinku | taboo word; forbidden topic; words or phrases not allowed (in waka and haikai) |
Study notes
句 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 5 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 5), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1244 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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