辺
辺 — Environs
environs, boundary, border, vicinity
On’yomiヘン (hen)
Kun’yomiあたり (atari)
Kun’yomiほとり (hotori)
Kun’yomi-べ (be)
Stroke order (5 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 辺
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 周辺 | しゅうへん shuuhen | circumference; outskirts; environs |
| 辺 | へん hen | area; vicinity; region |
| 一辺倒 | いっぺんとう ippentou | complete devotion (to); total commitment (to); unvarying support (for) |
| 海辺 | うみべ umibe | beach; seashore; seaside |
| 身辺 | しんぺん shinpen | one's person; around one's person |
| 底辺 | ていへん teihen | base (of a polygon); bottom (of the social scale); lower levels |
Study notes
辺 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 5 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #428 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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