勝
勝 — Victory
victory, win, prevail, excel
On’yomiショウ (shou)
Kun’yomiかつ (katsu)
Kun’yomi-がち (gachi)
Kun’yomiまさる (masaru)
Kun’yomiすぐれる (sugureru)
Kun’yomiかつ (katsu)
Stroke order (12 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 勝
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 優勝 | ゆうしょう yuushou | overall victory; championship; winning the title |
| 決勝 | けっしょう kesshou | decision of a contest; finals |
| 勝利 | しょうり shouri | victory; triumph; win |
| 勝負 | しょうぶ shoubu | victory or defeat; match; contest |
| 連勝 | れんしょう renshou | consecutive victories; series of victories; winning streak |
| 勝る | まさる masaru | to excel; to surpass; to exceed |
Study notes
勝 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #185 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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