社
社 — Company
company, firm, office, association, shrine
On’yomiシャ (sha)
Kun’yomiやしろ (yashiro)
Stroke order (7 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 社
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 会社 | かいしゃ kaisha | company; corporation; firm |
| 社会 | しゃかい shakai | society; public; community |
| 社会党 | しゃかいとう shakaitou | Socialist Party |
| 社長 | しゃちょう shachou | company president; manager; director |
| 同社 | どうしゃ dousha | the same company; the said firm; the same (Shinto) shrine |
| 本社 | ほんしゃ honsha | head office; main office; headquarters |
Study notes
社 is a JLPT N4 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #21 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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