Kanji Library
KanjiJLPT N2 › 省

省 — Government ministry

JLPT N29 strokesGrade 4#548 most used
government ministry, conserve, omit
On’yomiセイ (sei)
On’yomiショウ (shou)
Kun’yomiかえりみる (kaerimiru)
Kun’yomiはぶ (habuku)

Stroke order (9 strokes)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).

Common words using 省

WordReadingMeaning
外務省がいむしょう
gaimushou
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
大蔵省おおくらしょう
ookurashou
Ministry of Finance (1869-2001); Ministry of the Treasury (under the ritsuryō system)
厚生省こうせいしょう
kouseishou
(former) Ministry of Health and Welfare
同省どうしょう
doushou
the said ministry; the same ministry
通産省つうさんしょう
tsuusanshou
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (1949-2001); MITI
運輸省うんゆしょう
unyushou
Ministry of Transport

Study notes

省 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 9 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #548 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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