暮
暮 — Evening
evening, twilight, season's end, livelihood, make a living, spend time
On’yomiボ (bo)
Kun’yomiくれる (kureru)
Kun’yomiくらす (kurasu)
Stroke order (14 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 暮
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 暮らし | くらし kurashi | (way of) life; lifestyle; living |
| 暮れ | くれ kure | sunset; sundown; nightfall |
| 暮れる | くれる kureru | to get dark; to grow dark; to end (of a day, year, season, etc.) |
| 一人暮らし | ひとりぐらし hitorigurashi | living by oneself; living alone |
| 歳暮 | せいぼ seibo | year-end gift; end of the year; year end |
| 日暮れ | ひぐれ higure | twilight; sunset; dusk |
Study notes
暮 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 14 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #978 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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