井
井 — Well
well, well crib, town, community
On’yomiセイ (sei)
On’yomiショウ (shou)
Kun’yomiい (i)
Stroke order (4 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 井
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 井 | い i | well |
| 天井 | てんじょう tenjou | ceiling; ceiling price; (price) ceiling |
| 井戸 | いど ido | water well |
| 油井 | ゆせい yusei | oil well |
| 筒井 | つつい tsutsui | round well |
| 井戸掘り | いどほり idohori | well digging; well digger |
Study notes
井 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 4 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #339 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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