近
近 — Near
near, early, akin, tantamount
On’yomiキン (kin)
On’yomiコン (kon)
Kun’yomiちかい (chikai)
Stroke order (7 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 近
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 最近 | さいきん saikin | recently; lately; these days |
| 近代 | きんだい kindai | present day; modern times; recent times |
| 付近 | ふきん fukin | neighborhood; neighbourhood; vicinity |
| 側近 | そっきん sokkin | close aide (of a powerful person); close associate; entourage |
| 近所 | きんじょ kinjo | neighbourhood; neighborhood; vicinity |
| 近年 | きんねん kinnen | recent years |
Study notes
近 is a JLPT N4 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #194 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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