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Kanji Detail for 兄 - "older brother"

  • Meaning

    兄 means "older brother." Also associated with a respectful term, celestial stem.

    1. Older brother - The older male among siblings.

    2. A respectful term - A word showing respect for close friends.

    3. Celestial stem - Those assigned to the yang of the ten stems.

  • Words using

    • 兄弟 きょうだい Listen brothers and sisters; siblings; half-siblings
    • 実兄 じっけい Listen biological older brother
    • 兄貴 あにき Listen elder brother; one's senior; older man
    • 兄ちゃん にいちゃん Listen (one's) older brother; young man; sonny
    • 兄さん にいさん Listen older brother; elder brother; brother (as older-brother figure in friendly and or work relationship)
    • 父兄 ふけい Listen guardians; parents; father and older brother
    • 従兄弟 いとこ Listen cousin (male)
    • お兄さん おにいさん Listen older brother; elder brother; young man
  • Four-character idioms with

    • 四海兄弟 しかいけいてい Listen people in the whole world being all brothers; universal brotherhood
  • Tattoo check:

    • Verified meaning: older brother
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read けい)
    • Also carries these associations: a respectful term, celestial stem

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of

    Surnames (けい)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    elder brother; big brother

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    elder brother

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    elder brother

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    elder brother

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    A male born first is the elder brother (兄). | Peers addressing each other also use 兄. Such as 仁兄 (dear brother).
  • Onyomi

    tip
  • Kunyomi

    tip
  • Strokes

    tip
  • Radical

    tip
  • Related Keywords

Sentences including

  • She has no brothers.

  • Do you have any brothers?

  • My brother lives in a small village.

  • My older brother did all the preparation for us.

  • My brother is a college student.

  • My brother helped me to do my assignment.

  • I hope your brother is better.

  • My brother helped me with my homework.

  • I as well as my brother am to blame.

  • My father and my brother work in this factory.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

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