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KanjiJLPT N1 › 鹿
鹿

鹿 — Deer

JLPT N111 strokesGrade 4#957 most used
deer
On’yomiロク (roku)
Kun’yomiしか (shika)
Kun’yomi (ka)

Stroke order (11 strokes)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).

Common words using 鹿

WordReadingMeaning
鹿しか
shika
deer (esp. the sika deer, Cervus nippon); cervid
馬鹿ばか
baka
idiot; moron; fool
馬鹿らしいばからしい
bakarashii
absurd; foolish; stupid
牡鹿おじか
ojika
buck (male deer)

Study notes

鹿 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 11 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #957 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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