官
官 — Bureaucrat
bureaucrat, the government, organ
On’yomiカン (kan)
Kun’yomi—
Stroke order (8 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 官
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 長官 | ちょうかん choukan | secretary (government); director; chief |
| 官邸 | かんてい kantei | official residence (e.g. of the prime minister) |
| 官房長官 | かんぼうちょうかん kanbouchoukan | Chief Cabinet Secretary (Japan); Chief of Staff (to the President, Prime Minister, etc.); Cabinet Secretary |
| 官僚 | かんりょう kanryou | bureaucrat; government official; bureaucracy |
| 次官 | じかん jikan | vice-minister; undersecretary |
| 高官 | こうかん koukan | high official |
Study notes
官 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 8 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #230 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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