Kanji Library
Kanji VocabularyJLPT N2 › 賢

賢 — Intelligent

JLPT N216 strokesSecondary school#1159 most used
intelligent, wise, wisdom, cleverness
On’yomiケン (ken)
Kun’yomiかしこ (kashikoi)

Stroke order (16 strokes)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).

Common words using 賢

WordReadingMeaning
普賢ふげん
fugen
Samantabhadra (bodhisattva); Universal Compassion
賢人けんじん
kenjin
wise person; virtuous person; sage
賢明けんめい
kenmei
wise; sensible; well-advised
悪賢いわるがしこい
warugashikoi
cunning; crafty; wily
賢いかしこい
kashikoi
wise; clever; smart
賢所かしこどころ
kashikodokoro
palace sanctuary

Study notes

賢 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 16 strokes. It is taught at secondary-school level in Japan. Ranked #1159 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).

← 塩 salt腕 arm →

🔊 Tap the big kanji, any reading or any example word to hear it.