励
励 — Encourage
encourage, be diligent, inspire
On’yomiレイ (rei)
Kun’yomiはげむ (hagemu)
Kun’yomiはげます (hagemasu)
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 励
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 奨励 | しょうれい shourei | encouragement; promotion; inducement |
| 激励 | げきれい gekirei | encouragement; spurring (on); cheering (on) |
| 励まし | はげまし hagemashi | encouragement; cheering on |
| 励み | はげみ hagemi | encouragement; incentive; stimulus |
| 励ます | はげます hagemasu | to encourage; to cheer on; to cheer (someone) up |
| 励む | はげむ hagemu | to work hard; to try hard; to strive |
Study notes
励 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught at secondary-school level in Japan. Ranked #1254 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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