欠
欠 — Lack
lack, gap, fail
On’yomiケツ (ketsu)
On’yomiケン (ken)
Kun’yomiかける (kakeru)
Kun’yomiかく (kaku)
Stroke order (4 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 欠
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 欠かす | かかす kakasu | to miss (doing); to fail (to do); to do without |
| 欠陥 | けっかん kekkan | defect; fault; flaw |
| 不可欠 | ふかけつ fukaketsu | indispensable; essential |
| 欠席 | けっせき kesseki | absence; non-attendance |
| 欠点 | けってん ketten | fault; defect; flaw |
| 補欠 | ほけつ hoketsu | filling a vacancy; supplementation; substitute |
Study notes
欠 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 4 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #860 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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