干
干 — Dry
dry, parch, ebb, recede, interfere, intercede
On’yomiカン (kan)
Kun’yomiほす (hosu)
Kun’yomiほし- (hoshi)
Kun’yomi-ぼし (boshi)
Kun’yomiひる (hiru)
Stroke order (3 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 干
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 若干 | じゃっかん jakkan | some; few; a number of |
| 干渉 | かんしょう kanshou | interference; intervention; meddling |
| 干潟 | ひがた higata | tidal flat; tideland |
| 梅干し | うめぼし umeboshi | umeboshi; pickled dried ume; pickled dried plum |
| 干す | ほす hosu | to air; to dry; to desiccate |
| 物干し | ものほし monohoshi | frame for drying clothes; clotheshorse |
Study notes
干 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 3 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1349 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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