犬 — dog | My Kanji

いぬ犬 dog

U+72AC Unicode hex codepoint — a unique identifier for this character in the Unicode standard. JLPT 4 Japanese-Language Proficiency Test level. N5 is beginner, N1 is the most advanced. This kanji appears at the 4 level. Grade 1 Japanese school grade level in which this kanji is taught. Grade 1 is first year of elementary school. 4 strokes Freq #1326 Frequency rank among the ~2,500 most common kanji in Japanese newspapers. Lower number = more common. Heisig #238 Index in James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" — a popular textbook that teaches kanji through mnemonics and stories. Radical #94 犭

Meanings

word

いぬ inu Kun'yomi Kun'yomi (訓読み) — the native Japanese reading of this kanji. Used when the kanji appears alone or with okurigana (trailing hiragana).

犬(いぬ) inu dog 子(こ) 犬(いぬ) koinu puppy

けん ken On'yomi On'yomi (音読み) — the Sino-Japanese reading, derived from Chinese pronunciation. Most commonly used in compound words (jukugo).

番(ばん) 犬(けん) banken watchdog 野(や) 犬(けん) yaken stray dog

Stroke order

Stroke data from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Components

Kangxi Radical

This kanji is itself Radical #94

Radical Forms

犭

hen left

Building Blocks

おおきい大 big #37

丶 dot

Indicative compound (指事). 大 (figure with limbs spread) with a dot (丶) marking the ear. A dog — the dot distinguishes the quadruped from the human form 大.

Visually similar

おおきい大 big