炭
炭 — Charcoal
charcoal, coal
On’yomiタン (tan)
Kun’yomiすみ (sumi)
Stroke order (9 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 炭
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 炭素 | たんそ tanso | carbon (C) |
| 石炭 | せきたん sekitan | coal |
| 炭鉱 | たんこう tankou | coal mine; (coal) pit; colliery |
| 炭 | すみ sumi | charcoal; charred remains |
| 一酸化炭素 | いっさんかたんそ issankatanso | carbon monoxide |
| 炭酸 | たんさん tansan | carbonic acid; carbonated water; carbonated drink |
Study notes
炭 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 9 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1307 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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