飯
飯 — Meal
meal, boiled rice
On’yomiハン (han)
Kun’yomiめし (meshi)
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 飯
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 飯 | めし meshi | cooked rice; meal; food |
| ご飯 | ごはん gohan | cooked rice; meal |
| 炊飯器 | すいはんき suihanki | rice cooker |
| 赤飯 | せきはん sekihan | red rice (beans and mochi) for auspicious occasions |
| 米飯 | べいはん beihan | cooked rice |
| 朝飯 | あさめし asameshi | breakfast |
Study notes
飯 is a JLPT N4 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 #1046 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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