種
種 — Species
species, kind, class, variety, seed
On’yomiシュ (shu)
Kun’yomiたね (tane)
Kun’yomi-ぐさ (gusa)
Stroke order (14 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 種
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一種 | いっしゅ isshu | a kind; a sort; a variety |
| 種類 | しゅるい shurui | variety; kind; type |
| 人種 | じんしゅ jinshu | race (of people); type of person |
| 機種 | きしゅ kishu | model (of machine, device); model of aircraft; type of aircraft |
| 業種 | ぎょうしゅ gyoushu | type of industry |
| 種目 | しゅもく shumoku | item; event |
Study notes
種 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 14 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #461 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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