役
役 — Duty
duty, war, campaign, drafted labor, office, service
On’yomiヤク (yaku)
On’yomiエキ (eki)
Kun’yomi—
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 役
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 役割 | やくわり yakuwari | part; assigning (allotment of) parts; role |
| 役員 | やくいん yakuin | director; executive; officer |
| 取締役 | とりしまりやく torishimariyaku | company director; board member |
| 懲役 | ちょうえき choueki | penal servitude; imprisonment with hard labor (hard labour) |
| 役 | やく yaku | role; assignment; responsibility |
| 現役 | げんえき geneki | active duty; active service; student taking (university) entrance exams while still enrolled in school |
Study notes
役 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #315 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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