街
街 — Boulevard
boulevard, street, town
On’yomiガイ (gai)
On’yomiカイ (kai)
Kun’yomiまち (machi)
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 街
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 街頭 | がいとう gaitou | (on the) street |
| 市街 | しがい shigai | urban areas; the streets; town |
| 繁華街 | はんかがい hankagai | business district; shopping district; bustling street |
| 市街地 | しがいち shigaichi | town area; urban area; metropolitan area |
| 住宅街 | じゅうたくがい juutakugai | residential area |
| 街道 | かいどう kaidou | highway (esp. one existing from the Edo period); main road; highway (e.g. to success) |
Study notes
街 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #891 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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