児
児 — Newborn babe
newborn babe, child, young of animals
On’yomiジ (ji)
On’yomiニ (ni)
On’yomiゲイ (gei)
Kun’yomiこ (ko)
Kun’yomi-こ (ko)
Kun’yomi-っこ (kko)
Stroke order (7 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 児
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 児童 | じどう jidou | children; juvenile |
| 育児 | いくじ ikuji | childcare; child-rearing; nursing |
| 孤児 | こじ koji | orphan; person without friends |
| 幼児 | ようじ youji | young child; toddler; child over 1 but not yet of school age |
| 小児 | しょうに shouni | young child; infant |
| 女児 | じょじ joji | girl; baby girl; schoolgirl |
Study notes
児 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #679 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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