愛
愛 — Love
love, affection, favourite
On’yomiアイ (ai)
Kun’yomiいとしい (itoshii)
Kun’yomiかなしい (kanashii)
Kun’yomiめでる (mederu)
Kun’yomiおしむ (oshimu)
Kun’yomiまな (mana)
Stroke order (13 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 愛
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 愛 | あい ai | love; affection; care |
| 愛情 | あいじょう aijou | love; affection |
| 恋愛 | れんあい renai | love; romance; tender passion |
| 愛好 | あいこう aikou | love; adoration; being fond of |
| 愛国 | あいこく aikoku | love of one's country; patriotism; Ireland |
| 愛称 | あいしょう aishou | pet name; nickname; affectionate name |
Study notes
愛 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 13 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #640 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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