童
童 — Juvenile
juvenile, child
On’yomiドウ (dou)
Kun’yomiわらべ (warabe)
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 童
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 児童 | じどう jidou | children; juvenile |
| 童話 | どうわ douwa | children's story; fairy tale |
| 童謡 | どうよう douyou | children's song; nursery rhyme |
| 学童 | がくどう gakudou | schoolchild; pupil; after-school childcare |
| 天童 | てんどう tendou | cherub; gods disguised as children; children parading as cherubs |
| 河童 | かっぱ kappa | kappa; mythical water-dwelling creature; excellent swimmer |
Study notes
童 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 #1138 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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