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Kanji for Tree

The kanji most commonly used for "Tree" are 木、樹、栃.

Kanji that mean Tree

  • tree, wood

    Also associated with simple.

    Onyomi: boku, moku Kunyomi: ki, ko 4 strokes Jōyō

  • tree, to establish

    Also associated with to plant.

    Onyomi: ju Kunyomi: ki 16 strokes Jōyō

  • horse chestnut, tree

    Kunyomi: tochi 9 strokes Jōyō

  • nagi, tree

    Onyomi: da, na Kunyomi: nagi 11 strokes Jinmeiyō

木 is both tree and wood. It is the living plant and the material cut from it — 木材 is timber, 木造 a wooden building — and it is also the element and the weekday 木曜日. Two strokes, read by everyone, but it will not read as a tree specifically.

樹 is the standing living tree, and only that. 樹木 is trees as growing things, 街路樹 the trees along a street, 大樹 a great tree. It carries a second sense of establishing or setting up, as in 樹立. Because it names the living thing and looks substantial, it is common in given names — Itsuki, Tatsuki, Miki.

栃 is the horse chestnut, a character made in Japan and known mainly from the prefecture 栃木. 梛 names a particular evergreen, nagi, and appears almost only in personal and place names.

Before you use Tree kanji

樹 is the better single character if you mean a living tree; 木 is correct but reads equally as wood, the material. 栃 and 梛 name specific species and will look like a place name or a surname rather than a statement about trees.

Other meanings to explore

See all kanji by meaning →

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