短
短 — Short
short, brevity, fault, defect, weak point
On’yomiタン (tan)
Kun’yomiみじかい (mijikai)
Stroke order (12 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 短
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 短期 | たんき tanki | short-term |
| 短大 | たんだい tandai | junior college; vocationally oriented post-secondary institution offering two or three-year programs |
| 短歌 | たんか tanka | tanka; 31-mora Japanese poem |
| 短縮 | たんしゅく tanshuku | shortening; contraction; reduction |
| 長短 | ちょうたん choutan | (relative) length; advantages and disadvantages; pluses and minuses |
| 短期間 | たんきかん tankikan | short term; short time |
Study notes
短 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #689 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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