腸
腸 — Intestines
intestines, guts, bowels, viscera
On’yomiチョウ (chou)
Kun’yomiはらわた (harawata)
Kun’yomiわた (wata)
Stroke order (13 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 腸
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大腸 | だいちょう daichou | large intestine; large bowel; colon |
| 腸 | ちょう chou | intestine; bowel |
| 胃腸 | いちょう ichou | stomach and intestines; gastrointestinal tract; digestive organs |
| 盲腸 | もうちょう mouchou | cecum; caecum; blind gut |
| 大腸菌 | だいちょうきん daichoukin | Escherichia coli (E. coli); colon bacterium |
| 直腸 | ちょくちょう chokuchou | rectum |
Study notes
腸 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 13 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1807 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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