候
候 — Climate
climate, season, weather, wait for, expect
On’yomiコウ (kou)
Kun’yomiそうろう (sourou)
Stroke order (10 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 候
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 候補 | こうほ kouho | candidate; contender; prospect |
| 立候補 | りっこうほ rikkouho | candidacy; standing as a candidate; bidding (to host an event, e.g. the Olympics) |
| 気候 | きこう kikou | climate |
| 天候 | てんこう tenkou | weather |
| 症候群 | しょうこうぐん shoukougun | syndrome |
| 兆候 | ちょうこう choukou | sign; indication; omen |
Study notes
候 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 10 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #510 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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