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Kanji Detail for 塗 - "to paint, to apply, to smear"

塗

  • Meaning

    塗 means "to paint, to apply, to smear."

    1. Paint - To apply color or coating.

    2. Apply - To spread on a surface.

    3. Smear - To spread messily.

    4. Mud - Dirt mixed with water.

  • Words using 塗

    • 塗装 とそう Listen coating; painting
    • 塗料 とりょう Listen paint; coating; varnish
    • 塗り替える ぬりかえる Listen to repaint; to paint again; to paint (a different colour)
    • 塗る ぬる Listen to paint; to spread; to plaster

  • Four-character idioms with 塗

    • 道聴塗説 どうちょうとせつ Listen shallow-minded mouthing of secondhand information

  • Tattoo check: 塗

    • Verified meaning: to paint, to apply, to smear
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read と, ぬり)

    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 塗

    Surnames 塗(と)Listen 塗(ぬり)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    paint; plaster; daub; smear; coating

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    smear, daub, apply, spread; paint

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    to apply (paint etc); to smear; to daub; to blot out; to scribble; to scrawl; (literary) mud; street

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    to smear, to scribble, to daub; surname

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

    Mud. (Mencius) "Like sitting in mud and fire in court robes and cap." Speaking of unbearable disgrace. Trampling and mistreating is also called 塗炭. Such as 塗炭生靈 (torment the people). | Interchangeable with 途. A road. (Analects) "Meeting him on the road." | Altering written text. The erased part is called 塗. Such as crossing out is called 塗乙. Crossing out and revising is called 塗改. | 塗飾: To smear. Spreading liquid substances on top is all called 塗. The vulgar form is 搽.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    to(ト) ト

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    mami.reru(まみ-れる) まみ-れる

    nu.ri(ぬ-り) ぬ-り

    nu.ru(ぬ-る) ぬ-る

  • Strokes

    tip

    13 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    土 (tsuchi・tsuchihen・dohen)

  • Related Keywords

    to paint to apply to smear cover mud road stain brush coat lacquer plaster spread varnish layer

Sentences including 塗

  • Please paint the door white.

  • I want my room painted white.

  • The bridge is being repainted.

  • Ken painted his bicycle white.

  • He painted the door blue.

  • They painted the wall white.

  • We're going to paint the wall.

  • The man painting the wall is my father.

  • He painted his bicycle red.

  • He painted the door blue.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 土 (tsuchi・tsuchihen・dohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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