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Kanji Detail for 乾 - "dry, heaven"

乾

  • Meaning

    乾 means "dry, heaven." Also associated with strong.

    1. Dry - To dry out; to make dry; to lose moisture.

    2. Superficial - On the surface; outward.

    3. Heaven - A symbol of heaven, the emperor, lord, or masculinity.

    4. Strong - Healthy; robust; vigorous.

    5. Northwest - The northwest direction.

  • Words using 乾

    • 乾燥 かんそう Listen dryness; aridity; drying (e.g. clothes)
    • 乾電池 かんでんち Listen dry cell battery
    • 乾季 かんき Listen dry season
    • 乾かす かわかす Listen to dry (clothes, etc.); to desiccate
    • 乾く かわく Listen to get dry

  • Four-character idioms with 乾

    • 乾坤一擲 けんこんいってき Listen stake all (on something); play for all or nothing; throwing all into a task
    • 無味乾燥 むみかんそう Listen dull; uninteresting; dry

  • Tattoo check: 乾

    • Verified meaning: dry, heaven
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read いぬい, いぬて, かわい, かわき)
    • Also carries these associations: strong

    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 乾

    Given names 乾(いぬい)Listen 乾(かん)Listen 乾(けん)Listen 乾(すすむ)Listen 乾(つとむ)Listen

    Surnames 乾(いぬて)Listen 乾(かわい)Listen 乾(かわき)Listen 乾(たけし)Listen 乾(ぬくい)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    drought; dry; desiccate; drink up; heaven; emperor

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    dry; warming principle of the sun, penetrating and fertilizing, heavenly generative principle (male); trigram ☰; hexagram ䷀

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    old variant of 乾[qian2]

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    arid, dry; to fertilize; to penetrate; heavenly generative principle (male)

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

    The first of the Eight Trigrams. Symbolizing heaven and ruler. Hence celestial phenomena are called 乾象, imperial authority called 乾綱. | The Qian hexagram has three yang lines. Hence used to symbolize males. Such as colloquially saying 乾造 (male horoscope), 乾宅 (male residence). | Dry. Such as 乾柴烈火 (dry wood and fierce fire). | Depleted. Such as 外彊中乾, meaning strong outside but lacking inside. | Having the name without the substance, colloquially all called 乾. Such as 乾爺 (nominal father), 乾娘 (nominal mother), 乾脩 (nominal salary), 乾館 (nominal position).

  • Onyomi

    tip

    kan(カン) カン

    ken(ケン) ケン

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    hiru(ひる) ひる

    ho.su(ほ-す) ほ-す

    inui(いぬい) いぬい

    kawa.kasu(かわ-かす) かわ-かす

    kawaku(かわ-く) かわ-く

  • Strokes

    tip

    11 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    乙 乚 (otsu・otsunyo・tsuribari)

  • Related Keywords

    dry heaven strong surface northwest symbol parched arid barren dehydrated desiccated crisp drought dusty moistureless scorched sere shriveled celestial sky

Sentences including 乾

  • Why are you drying your hair?

  • I'm looking for batteries.

  • To your future !

  • Let's drink a toast to our friends !

  • It's the dry here.

  • Let's drink to absent friends.

  • Let's drink to his success.

  • Here's to you ! cheers !

  • Here's to you !

More kanji with the radical 乙 乚 (otsu・otsunyo・tsuribari)

See all kanji with this radical →

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