日 means “sun / day”

Watch: Gen and Shibamaru learn 日

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Where 日 comes from

日 began as a picture of the sun: a circle with a dot in the middle. The circle became a box, and the dot became the short line inside.

Stroke order (4 strokes)

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Words with 日

• 

  日本にほん

  NIHON

  Japan

• 

  毎日まいにち

  MAINICHI

  every day

• 

  日曜日にちようび

  NICHIYOUBI

  Sunday

• 

  今日きょう

  KYOU

  today

• 

  誕生日たんじょうび

  TANJOUBI

  birthday

The part of each word written with 日 is shown in orange. Audio: the readings from our video.

Reading tips

• 日 has many readings. It is に (NI) in 日本, にち (NICHI) in 毎日 (MAINICHI, every day), and び (BI) at the end of the days of the week, as in 日曜日 (NICHIYOUBI, Sunday).
• 今日 (KYOU, today) is a special reading. Learn it as one word, not kanji by kanji.
• In dates, 日 is often read か (KA), as in 三日 (MIKKA, the 3rd).

In the video

• Shibamaru読み方が ちがうねThe readings are different.
• Genほんとだ！You're right!

Example sentences

• 毎日 にほんごを べんきょうします。

  MAINICHI NIHONGO O BENKYOU SHIMASU.

  I study Japanese every day.

• 日曜日に あいましょう。

  NICHIYOUBI NI AIMASHOU.

  Let's meet on Sunday.

Keep learning kanji

• GENKI I Textbook (3rd Edition)

  Beginner

  A popular first textbook used in many university courses. Each lesson has a dialogue, grammar explanations in English, and plenty of practice.

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• Remembering the Kanji 1

  Beginner and up

  Learn the meaning and the writing of over 2,000 kanji by building each one from its parts with a short story. Readings are not covered.

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