努
努 — Toil
toil, diligent, as much as possible
On’yomiド (do)
Kun’yomiつとめる (tsutomeru)
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 努
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 努力 | どりょく doryoku | effort; exertion; endeavour |
| 努める | つとめる tsutomeru | to endeavor (to do); to endeavour; to try hard |
| 努めて | つとめて tsutomete | as much as possible; as far as possible; to the best of one's ability |
Study notes
努 is a JLPT N3 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 #749 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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