刻
刻 — Engrave
engrave, cut fine, chop, hash, mince, time
On’yomiコク (koku)
Kun’yomiきざむ (kizamu)
Kun’yomiきざみ (kizami)
Stroke order (8 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 刻
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 深刻 | しんこく shinkoku | serious; severe; grave |
| 彫刻 | ちょうこく choukoku | carving; engraving; sculpture |
| 時刻 | じこく jikoku | time; (the) hour; favourable time |
| 一刻 | いっこく ikkoku | a moment; a minute; an instant |
| 刻む | きざむ kizamu | to mince; to cut fine; to chop up |
| 深刻化 | しんこくか shinkokuka | becoming more serious or severe; aggravation; intensification |
Study notes
刻 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 8 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #866 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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