警
警 — Admonish
admonish, commandment
On’yomiケイ (kei)
Kun’yomiいましめる (imashimeru)
Stroke order (19 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 警
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 警察 | けいさつ keisatsu | police; police officer; police station |
| 警視庁 | けいしちょう keishichou | Metropolitan Police Department (Tokyo) |
| 県警 | けんけい kenkei | prefectural police |
| 警戒 | けいかい keikai | vigilance; caution; alertness |
| 警察庁 | けいさつちょう keisatsuchou | National Police Agency; NPA |
| 警備 | けいび keibi | defense; defence; guard |
Study notes
警 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 19 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #366 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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