絵
絵 — Picture
picture, drawing, painting, sketch
On’yomiカイ (kai)
On’yomiエ (e)
Kun’yomi—
Stroke order (12 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 絵
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 絵 | え e | picture; drawing; painting |
| 絵画 | かいが kaiga | painting; picture |
| 絵本 | えほん ehon | picture book |
| 絵の具 | えのぐ enogu | paint; coloring materials; colors |
| 浮世絵 | うきよえ ukiyoe | ukiyo-e; ukiyoe; Edo-period woodblock print |
| 油絵 | あぶらえ aburae | oil painting |
Study notes
絵 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #895 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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