線
線 — Line
line, track
On’yomiセン (sen)
Kun’yomiすじ (suji)
Stroke order (15 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 線
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 路線 | ろせん rosen | route (bus, train, air, etc.); line; line (taken by a group, organization, etc.) |
| 新幹線 | しんかんせん shinkansen | Shinkansen; bullet train |
| 打線 | だせん dasen | batting line-up; batting order |
| 戦線 | せんせん sensen | (war) front |
| 線 | せん sen | line; stripe; stria |
| 三十八度線 | さんじゅうはちどせん sanjuuhachidosen | 38th parallel (that demarcates North Korea and South Korea) |
Study notes
線 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 15 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #382 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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