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Kanji Detail for 子 - "child, boy"

子

  • Meaning

    子 means "child, boy." Also associated with honorific.

    1. Child - A son or daughter; offspring.

    2. Boy - A male child.

    3. Honorific - A respectful title for scholars or men.

    4. Master - A teacher; a learned person.

    5. Philosopher - A thinker; their writings.

    6. Seed - Fruit; egg; offspring.

    7. Small - Tiny; diminutive.

    8. Viscount - Fourth of five noble ranks.

    9. Rat - First zodiac sign; midnight; north.

    10. Suffix - Used in women's names.

  • Words using 子

    • 女子 じょし Listen woman; girl
    • 子供 こども Listen child; children
    • 男子 だんし Listen boy; man; male
    • 原子力 げんしりょく Listen atomic energy; nuclear power
    • 息子 むすこ Listen son; penis
    • 電子 でんし Listen electron; electronic
    • 子会社 こがいしゃ Listen subsidiary (company)
    • 皇太子 こうたいし Listen crown prince

  • Four-character idioms with 子

    • 一子相伝 いっしそうでん Listen transmission of the secrets of an art, craft, trade or learning from father to only one child
    • 一本調子 いっぽんぢょうし Listen monotone; monotonous; dull
    • 乱臣賊子 らんしんぞくし Listen rebels against one's lord and one's parents; rebellious (treacherous) subject; traitor
    • 君子豹変 くんしひょうへん Listen the wise readily adapt themselves to changed circumstances; the wise are quick to acknowledge their mistakes and correct them; the wise make no scruple in suddenly changing their demeanor
    • 大和撫子 やまとなでしこ Listen large pink (Dianthus superbus var. longicalycinus); woman who displays the feminine virtues of old Japan
    • 妻子眷属 さいしけんぞく Listen one's wife, children, and other relations; one's whole family

  • Origin of 子

    A pictograph of an infant: big head, arms spread, legs still swaddled into one line. The character of children — and the suffix on half the girls' names of the twentieth century.

    How to remember it: A baby drawn honestly: huge head, waving arms, blanket where the legs should be.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 子

    • Verified meaning: child, boy
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read こ, このえ, しげる, ねね)
    • Also carries these associations: honorific

    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 子

    Given names 子(このえ)Listen 子(しげる)Listen

    Surnames 子(こ)Listen 子(ねね)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    child; sign of the rat; 11PM-1AM; first sign of Chinese zodiac

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    offspring, child; fruit, seed of; first earthly branch

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    son; child; seed; egg; small thing; 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat; viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4]; ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north); subsidiary; subordinate; (prefix) sub-

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    son, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thing

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

    The first of the twelve earthly branches. From 11 PM to 1 AM is the 子 hour. | Heir. Anciently, children of either sex were called 子. Now colloquially, sons are called 子; daughters are called 女. | An honorific for men. Anciently, all those with virtue, rank, or learning were called 子. Such as Confucius, Mencius, Meng Yizi, Ji Wenzi, Laozi, Zhuangzi. Their writings forming a school of thought are called 子書. Such as the Four Treasuries being divided into Classics, History, Masters, and Collections. Also, descendants calling their ancestors 先子. Husband and wife calling each other 外子, 內子. All honorifics. | Ordinary people are also called 子. Such as scholars called 士子; boatmen called 舟子. Addressing others as 吾子, like 爾 or 汝. | In the old system, the fourth of the five noble ranks was called 子. | Seeds of animals and plants are all called 子. Such as 魚子 (fish roe), 蠶子 (silkworm eggs), 桃子 (peach), 李子 (plum). | The counterpart of 母. Such as 分母 (denominator), 分子 (numerator), like the divisor and dividend in division. Also, capital is called 母財; interest generated is called 子金. | A particle. Such as 摺子, 簿子. Colloquially used for concrete objects.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    shi(シ) シ

    su(ス) ス

    tsu(ツ) ツ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    ko(こ) こ

    ne(ね) ね

  • Strokes

    tip

    3 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    子 (ko・kohen・kodomo・kodomohen)

  • Related Keywords

    child boy honorific female name feminine suffix master philosopher rat seed small thing thinker time viscount offspring young junior baby compact cub descendant fledgling grain infant juvenile kernel kid little minor origin potential progeny

Sentences including 子

  • The child is father of the man.

  • I'm the youngest in the family.

  • How have you been getting on?

  • The dog frightened the children away.

  • I made my son a doctor.

  • The girl in a blue coat is my daughter.

  • The boy fanned himself with his hat.

  • He has a son whose name is john.

  • I remembered that boys will be boys.

  • He launched his son in the world.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 子 (ko・kohen・kodomo・kodomohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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