Kanji #0008
天 means “sky / heaven”
天 (TEN) means "sky" or "heaven." It is in everyday words like 天気 (TENKI, weather) and 天ぷら (TENPURA).
Watch: Gen and Shibamaru learn 天
The video loads from YouTube when you press play. Open on YouTube
Where 天 comes from
天 is often explained as 大, a person standing with arms out, with a line above the head: the sky above the person.
Stroke order (4 strokes)
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Words with 天

天気てんき
TENKI
weather

天ぷらてんぷら
TENPURA
tempura

天国てんごく
TENGOKU
heaven

天才てんさい
TENSAI
genius
The part of each word written with 天 is shown in orange. Audio: the readings from our video.
Reading tips
- In all four words in the video, 天 is read てん (TEN). Once you know it, you can read them all.
- 天 and 大 (big) differ by one line. 天 has the extra line on top.
In the video
- Shibamaruどれも よく 見ることばだよYou'll see all of these.
- Genおぼえたぞ!Got them!
Example sentences
きょうは いい 天気ですね。
KYOU WA II TENKI DESU NE.
Nice weather today, isn't it?
天ぷらが すきです。
TENPURA GA SUKI DESU.
I like tempura.
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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.