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One of the best Japanese Kanji dictionary.
The kanji most commonly used for "Man" are 男、夫、郎.
男
man, son
Also associated with vigorous person.
Onyomi: dan, nan Kunyomi: o, otoko 7 strokes Jōyō
husband, man
Also associated with worker.
Onyomi: bu, fu, fuu Kunyomi: otto, sore 4 strokes Jōyō
man, son, official title
Onyomi: roh, ryoh Kunyomi: otoko 9 strokes Jōyō
benevolence, humanity, kernel
Onyomi: jin, ni, nin 4 strokes Jōyō
男 is the ordinary word: man, male. 男性 is the male sex, 長男 the eldest son, and it stands alone as otoko. If you want man with no complication, this is it. 夫 is specifically a husband — 夫婦 is a married couple, 夫人 a wife — so it names a role rather than a sex.
郎 is the character that ends male given names: 太郎, 一郎, 次郎. It is a name element more than a word, and 郞 is its older written form. 仁 is a Confucian term, benevolence and humaneness, and it reads as a virtue rather than as man, though it is a common given name (Jin, Hitoshi).
漢 is the trap. In modern Japanese it means Han or Chinese — 漢字 is Chinese characters, 漢方 traditional Chinese medicine. Its man sense lives only inside compounds, and the compounds a reader thinks of first are not flattering ones.
男 is the plain, safe character. Avoid 漢 alone: it reads as Chinese (漢字), and its man sense survives in words like 悪漢, villain, and 痴漢, molester. 郎 will look like the tail end of a name, and 仁 will be read as benevolence.
What is Onyomi?
Onyomi, also known as the "Sino-Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is derived from the original Chinese pronunciation.
What is Kunyomi?
Kunyomi, also known as the "native Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is based on the native Japanese pronunciation. Kunyomi readings are often used when a kanji character stands alone or is followed by hiragana, as in verbs and adjectives. Mastering both kunyomi and onyomi is crucial for understanding and using kanji effectively in the Japanese language.
What is Radical?
A radical, also known as "bushu" in Japanese, is a fundamental component of kanji characters. Radicals are the building blocks of kanji and are used to categorize and organize them in dictionaries. There are 214 traditional radicals, each with its own meaning, which often provides a clue to the meaning of the kanji character it forms.
What is strokes?
Stroke count, or "kakusuu" in Japanese, refers to the number of individual brushstrokes required to write a kanji character. Each kanji has a specific stroke order and stroke count, which are essential for writing the character correctly and legibly. Understanding and following the correct stroke order not only ensures proper balance and aesthetics but also makes writing more efficient and fluid.