Kanji #0014
校 means “school”
校 (KOU) means "school." You almost never see it alone: it is in 学校 (GAKKOU), 高校 (KOUKOU), and more.
Watch: Gen and Shibamaru learn 校
The video loads from YouTube when you press play. Open on YouTube
Where 校 comes from
校 has 木 (tree, wood) on the left and 交 on the right. 交 gives the kanji its sound, コウ (KOU).
Stroke order (10 strokes)
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Words with 校

学校がっこう
GAKKOU
school

小学校しょうがっこう
SHOUGAKKOU
elementary school

中学校ちゅうがっこう
CHUUGAKKOU
junior high school

高校こうこう
KOUKOU
high school

高校生こうこうせい
KOUKOUSEI
high school student

日本語学校にほんごがっこう
NIHONGOGAKKOU
Japanese language school
The part of each word written with 校 is shown in orange. Audio: the readings from our video.
Reading tips
- The order of schools in Japan: 小学校 (SHOUGAKKOU, 6 years), then 中学校 (CHUUGAKKOU, 3 years), then 高校 (KOUKOU, 3 years).
- 学校 is GAKKOU, not GAKUKOU: がく becomes がっ before こう.
- 高校 (KOUKOU) is two different kanji with the same sound: 高 (high) and 校 (school).
In the video
- Gen日本語学校、行きたい!I want to go to Japanese school!
- Shibamaruゲンは 日本人でしょBut you're Japanese, Gen!
Gen wants to go to a Japanese language school, but Gen is already Japanese.
Example sentences
わたしの 学校は えきの ちかくです。
WATASHI NO GAKKOU WA EKI NO CHIKAKU DESU.
My school is near the station.
いもうとは 高校生です。
IMOUTO WA KOUKOUSEI DESU.
My younger sister is a high school student.
Keep learning kanji
GENKI I Textbook (3rd Edition)
BeginnerA popular first textbook used in many university courses. Each lesson has a dialogue, grammar explanations in English, and plenty of practice.
View on AmazonMinna no Nihongo Beginner I Main Textbook (2nd Edition)
BeginnerWritten entirely in Japanese, with lots of sentence-pattern practice. Use it together with the Translation & Grammar Notes book.
View on Amazon
Stroke order data: KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. The kanji graphics on this page are drawn from KanjiVG data (stroke width and color changed, animated) and are shared under the same license. Level: JLPT N5 is a study guide only; JLPT does not publish an official kanji list.