師
師 — Expert
expert, teacher, master, model, exemplar, army (incl. counter)
On’yomiシ (shi)
Kun’yomiいくさ (ikusa)
Stroke order (10 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 師
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 医師 | いし ishi | doctor; physician |
| 教師 | きょうし kyoushi | teacher; instructor |
| 講師 | こうし koushi | speaker; lecturer; lecturer (at a university or college) |
| 師匠 | ししょう shishou | master; teacher; stable master |
| 技師 | ぎし gishi | engineer; technical officer |
| 師団 | しだん shidan | (army) division |
Study notes
師 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 10 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 5), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #563 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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