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Kanji Detail for 勝 - "to win, to excel"

勝

  • Meaning

    勝 means "to win, to excel." Also associated with to overcome.

    1. Win - To triumph; to defeat.

    2. Excel - To surpass; to be superior.

    3. Overcome - To prevail; to conquer.

  • Words using 勝

    • 優勝 ゆうしょう Listen overall victory; championship; winning the title
    • 決勝 けっしょう Listen decision of a contest; finals
    • 勝る まさる Listen to excel; to surpass; to exceed
    • 勝負 しょうぶ Listen victory or defeat; match; contest
    • 勝ち かち Listen win; victory
    • 準決勝 じゅんけっしょう Listen semifinal
    • 勝ち越し かちこし Listen having more wins than losses; taking the lead (in points, goals, etc.)
    • 全勝 ぜんしょう Listen complete victory; winning a tournament with no losses

  • Four-character idioms with 勝

    • 自分勝手 じぶんかって Listen selfishness; egotism; egoism
    • 一六勝負 いちろくしょうぶ Listen gambling on whether the throw of a die will produce a "one" or a "six"; gambling with dice; gambling
    • 優勝劣敗 ゆうしょうれっぱい Listen survival of the fittest
    • 先手必勝 せんてひっしょう Listen victory goes to the one who makes the first move; being quick to take action leads to victory; the early bird gets the worm
    • 得手勝手 えてかって Listen self-willed; (doing or saying things) to suit one's own convenience
    • 手前勝手 てまえがって Listen self-centered; self-centred; selfish

  • Origin of 勝

    朕, a boat piled with load, over 力, strength: prevailing under weight — the strength that carries the heavier cargo across. Victory as bearing more and still moving.

    How to remember it: Strength 力 hauling the loaded boat 朕 across anyway — winning is out-carrying the weight.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 勝

    • Verified meaning: to win, to excel
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read かじ, かち, かつ, かつざき)
    • Also carries these associations: to overcome

    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 勝

    Given names 勝(かち)Listen 勝(かつ)Listen 勝(かつし)Listen 勝(しょう)Listen 勝(しょうみん)Listen 勝(すぐり)Listen 勝(すぐる)Listen 勝(すぐれ)Listen

    Surnames 勝(かじ)Listen 勝(かつざき)Listen 勝(すぐろ)Listen 勝(すん)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

    victory; win; prevail; excel

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    victory; excel, be better than

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    victory; success; to beat; to defeat; to surpass; victorious; superior to; to get the better of; better than; surpassing; superb (of vista); beautiful (scenery); wonderful (view); (Taiwan pr. [sheng1]) able to bear; equal to (a task)

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    victory; to excel, to truimph

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

    Opposite of 敗 (defeat). Being superior to the enemy is called 勝. Such as 百戰百勝 (win every battle). | All superior things are called 勝. Such as 形勝 (strategic location), 名勝 (famous site), 勝景 (beautiful scenery), 勝概 (splendid view). | To surpass. Such as 略勝一籌 (slightly better), 聊勝於無 (better than nothing). | Hair ornament. Ancients cut colored paper into flowers to decorate hair, called 花勝. Such as 春勝 (spring ornament), 方勝 (diamond-shaped ornament). Now it's the ribbon bow that women wear. There's a bird called 戴勝 (hoopoe), meaning it has yellow feathers rising distinctly on its head like wearing an ornament. | A term for what has been defeated. Such as 勝朝 (former dynasty), 勝國 (conquered state), referring to the previous dynasty that has perished, meaning the state that the current government conquered. | To bear; to withstand. Being able to handle a task is called 勝任. Such as 弱不勝衣 (too weak to bear one's clothes). In correspondence, 不勝惶恐 (overwhelmed with trepidation), 不勝驚駭 (extremely shocked) mean it's so excessive that one cannot bear it.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    shoh(ショウ) ショウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    ga.chi(が-ち) が-ち

    katsu(か-つ) か-つ

    masa.ru(まさ-る) まさ-る

    sugu.reru(すぐ-れる) すぐ-れる

  • Strokes

    tip

    12 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    力 (chikara)

  • Related Keywords

    to win to excel to overcome endure outperform victory achievement beat champion conquer domination first place glory mastery prevail success superior supremacy surpass top triumph vanquish

Sentences including 勝

  • He won't have a look-in.

  • Do you doubt that he will win?

  • The day is ours without doubt.

  • He is certain to win the game.

  • You shall not have your own way in everything.

  • He is ahead of us in english.

  • I'm sure that our team will win.

  • I am sure of winning the tennis match.

  • Which team is likely to win?

  • England is going to win the match.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 力 (chikara)

See all kanji with this radical →

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