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Kanji for Talent
The kanji most commonly used for "Talent" are 才、能、材.
才
Kanji that mean Talent
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才
talent, ability
Also associated with only.
Onyomi: sai 3 strokes Jōyō
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能
ability, talent
Also associated with can.
Onyomi: noh Kunyomi: ata.u, yo.ku 10 strokes Jōyō
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材
material, timber, talent
Onyomi: zai 7 strokes Jōyō
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器
vessel, instrument, talent
Onyomi: ki Kunyomi: utsuwa 15 strokes Jōyō
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芸
art, performance, talent
Onyomi: gei, un Kunyomi: nori, u.eru, waza 7 strokes Jōyō
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腕
arm, skill
Also associated with wrist.
Onyomi: wan Kunyomi: ude 12 strokes Jōyō
才 is talent in the plainest sense — 才能 (talent, ability), 天才 (genius), 秀才 (a gifted student). Three strokes, unambiguous. 能 is capability: what a person is able to do, as in 能力 (ability) and 有能 (competent). The two combine into 才能, which is why either reads as talent on its own.
器 is talent as capacity — the size of the vessel a person is. 器用 means dexterous, and the saying 大器晩成 holds that a large vessel takes long to finish: great talent matures late. 材 is talent as material; 人材 is the word companies use for able staff, literally ‘human timber’.
芸 and 腕 are narrower. 芸 is skill in a performing art: 芸術 (art), 芸能 (entertainment), 芸者. 腕 is the arm, and by extension hands-on skill — 腕前 is one’s level of skill and 腕利き means highly skilled. Neither covers talent in general.
Words using Talent kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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才能
さいのう
talent; ability
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可能
かのう
possible; potential; practicable
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取材
しゅざい
gathering material (for an article, novel, etc.); collecting information; covering (an event, incident, etc.)
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武器
ぶき
weapon; arms; ordnance
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芸能
げいのう
public entertainment; performing arts; accomplishments
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天才
てんさい
genius; prodigy; natural gift
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機能
きのう
function; facility; faculty
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材料
ざいりょう
materials; ingredients; material (for a novel, experiment, etc.)
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核兵器
かくへいき
nuclear weapon
Before you use Talent kanji
才 is the safest single character for talent and is read that way immediately. 器 reads as 'vessel' first and needs a compound to convey capacity. 腕 will be read as 'arm' unless the context is clearly skill, and 材 alone means timber or material.