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Kanji Detail for 智 - "wisdom, intelligence"

智

  • Meaning

    智 means "wisdom, intelligence." Also associated with insightful.

    1. Wisdom - Deep knowledge and understanding.

    2. Intelligence - Mental acuity; cleverness.

    3. Knowledge - Information and understanding gained through experience.

  • Origin of 智

    知, "to know" — an arrow 矢 beside a mouth 口, knowledge that hits the mark as an arrow does — set over an element that modern readings trace to 白, itself a corrupted 甘, rather than to the sun. Wisdom, in the graph, is simply 知 with that element added.

    How to remember it: Knowledge 知 held long enough to be trusted — wisdom.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 智

    • Verified meaning: wisdom, intelligence
    • Jinmeiyō kanji — officially approved for use in Japanese given names
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read あきら, さかし, さと, さとい)
    • Also carries these associations: insightful

    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 智

    Given names 智(あきら)Listen 智(さかし)Listen 智(さと)Listen 智(さとい)Listen 智(さとし)Listen 智(さとり)Listen 智(さとる)Listen 智(ち)Listen 智(ちえ)Listen

    Surnames 智(さとみ)Listen 智(さとゆき)Listen 智(たかち)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

    wisdom; intellect; reason

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    wisdom, knowledge, intelligence

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    (literary) wise; wisdom

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    wisdom, knowledge, intelligence

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

    The opposite of foolish. To understand reason. Those with much deliberation, strategy, and skill are all called 智.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    chi(チ) チ

  • Kunyomi

    tip
    none

  • Strokes

    tip

    12 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    日 (hi・hihen・nichi・nichihen)

  • Related Keywords

    wisdom intelligence insightful knowledge intelligent wise intellect acumen discernment erudition learning judgment comprehension sagacity perception reasoning education cleverness cognition mind brain

Sentences including 智

  • Tomoko bounced happily out the door.

  • Hello, I'm Tomoko Sato from Japan.

  • Michiko talks as if she had been to the Arctic herself.

  • Tomoko asked her friends to come to her party.

  • The comic book that Tomoko lent me was not at all interesting.

  • The comic book that Tomoko lent me was not at all interesting.

  • Tomoko asked her friends to come to her party.

  • Michiko talks as if she had been to the Arctic herself.

  • "Why are you called Tom? It's not your real name, right?" "Right. My real name is Tomoya, but then Tomoya became Tomo, which then became Tom."

More kanji with the radical 日 (hi・hihen・nichi・nichihen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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