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Kanji Detail for 外 - "outside"

外

  • Meaning

    外 means "outside." Also associated with surface, provincial.

    1. Outside - Other; elsewhere; a place outside a certain range.

    2. Surface - Outward appearance; exterior.

    3. Provincial - Local areas compared to the center; foreign countries compared to one's own.

    4. To remove - To exclude; to distance.

    5. Maternal relatives - Relatives on the mother's side; also, the wife's relatives.

    6. To miss - To deviate; to go astray.

  • Words using 外

    • 外交 がいこう Listen diplomacy; selling (e.g. door-to-door); canvassing
    • 外国 がいこく Listen foreign country
    • 外相 がいしょう Listen Foreign Minister
    • 海外 かいがい Listen foreign; abroad; overseas
    • 外務省 がいむしょう Listen Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    • 外国人 がいこくじん Listen foreigner; foreign citizen; foreign national
    • 内外 ないがい Listen inside and outside; interior and exterior; inside and outside the country
    • 外務 がいむ Listen foreign affairs

  • Four-character idioms with 外

    • 内憂外患 ないゆうがいかん Listen troubles both at home and abroad
    • 外交辞令 がいこうじれい Listen diplomatic turn of phrase; diplomatic language; tactful way of expressing something
    • 奇想天外 きそうてんがい Listen fantastic; bizarre; incredible
    • 治外法権 ちがいほうけん Listen extraterritoriality
    • 門外不出 もんがいふしゅつ Listen (treasuring something by) never taking (it) off the premises
    • 内剛外柔 ないごうがいじゅう Listen gentle on the outside but tough on the inside; an iron hand in a velvet glove

  • Tattoo check: 外

    • Verified meaning: outside
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read そで, そと, ほか)
    • Also carries these associations: surface, provincial

    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 外

    Surnames 外(そで)Listen 外(そと)Listen 外(ほか)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    outside

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    out, outside, external; foreign

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    outside; in addition; foreign; external

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    out, outside, external; foreign; in addition

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

    Opposite of 內 (inside). The surface of all things is called 外. Such as 外觀 (appearance), 外貌 (looks). | What is not within a scope is called 外. Such as monks and Taoists are called 方外 (outside the world). Hence other countries relative to one's own are called 外. Such as 外交 (foreign affairs), 外侮 (foreign aggression). Other places relative to one's locality are called 外. Such as 外省 (other provinces), 外埠 (other ports). Relatives by marriage relative to one's family are called 外. Such as calling mother's father 外祖, wife's father 外舅. | A wife calls her husband 外子, abbreviated as 外. Anciently, men resided outside, women resided inside, hence this term. | To treat as distant. Such as the colloquial 見外, meaning not considering someone as of the same way.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    gai(ガイ) ガイ

    ge(ゲ) ゲ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    hazu.reru(はず-れる) はず-れる

    hazu.su(はず-す) はず-す

    hoka(ほか) ほか

    soto(そと) そと

    to(と) と

  • Strokes

    tip

    5 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    夕 (yube・yu・ta)

  • Related Keywords

    outside surface provincial deviate maternal relatives other remove to miss exterior foreign alien appearance beyond elsewhere external extraneous offshore outdoor outlandish outlying outward

Sentences including 外

  • Won't you go out to lunch with us?

  • Do not look out of the window.

  • There is no going out in this stormy weather.

  • Going out in this rain is out of the question.

  • When he heard the voice , he looked out of the window.

  • Do you sometimes go abroad on your holidays?

  • We spent the day in the open air.

  • Don't look out the window. concentrate on your work.

  • Except for bill , they were all in time.

  • The heavy rain prevented us from going out.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 夕 (yube・yu・ta)

See all kanji with this radical →

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