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Kanji Detail for 潔 - "pure, honest, righteous"

潔

  • Meaning

    潔 means "pure, honest, righteous."

    1. Pure - Free from contamination; clean.

    2. Honest - Upright and sincere; morally clean.

    3. Righteous - Morally correct; virtuous.

  • Words using 潔

    • 清潔 せいけつ Listen clean; hygienic; sanitary
    • 簡潔 かんけつ Listen concise; brief; succinct
    • 潔白 けっぱく Listen innocence; guiltlessness; purity
    • 潔い いさぎよい Listen gracious (defeat, apology, etc.); graceful; honourable (e.g. death)
    • 不潔 ふけつ Listen unclean; dirty; unsanitary

  • Four-character idioms with 潔

    • 清廉潔白 せいれんけっぱく Listen spotless integrity; absolute honesty; uprightness
    • 清浄潔白 せいじょうけっぱく Listen upright and clean-handed; pure in heart and with a clean conscience
    • 簡潔明瞭 かんけつめいりょう Listen clear and concise
    • 精進潔斎 しょうじんけっさい Listen purifying oneself (religiously) by abstaining from eating meat

  • Origin of 潔

    The water radical 氵 beside 絜 — hemp cut and measured clean, lending the reading ketsu: washed and squared away. Integrity as cleanliness of conduct.

    How to remember it: Cords washed 氵, measured, cut square 絜 — everything in order, nothing hidden: clean.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 潔

    • Verified meaning: pure, honest, righteous
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read いさお, いさぎ, きよ, きよい)

    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 潔

    Given names 潔(いさお)Listen 潔(いさぎ)Listen 潔(きよ)Listen 潔(きよい)Listen 潔(きよし)Listen 潔(けつ)Listen

    Surnames 潔(きょじ)Listen 潔(きよつぐ)Listen 潔(きよのり)Listen 潔(ちぇい)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

    undefiled; pure; clean; righteous; gallant

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    clean, purify, pure

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    clean

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    clean, pure; to purify, to cleanse

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

    Pure. As in 潔淨 (clean), 清潔 (clean). | Maintaining integrity and clean conduct through self-restraint. As in 潔身自好 (keeping oneself unsullied). | To cultivate. (Analects) "A person cultivates himself to advance."

  • Onyomi

    tip

    ketsu(ケツ) ケツ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    isagiyo.i(いさぎよ-い) いさぎよ-い

  • Strokes

    tip

    15 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    水 氵 氺 (mizu・sanzui・shitamizu)

  • Related Keywords

    pure honest righteous clean upright purity chaste clear decent ethical honorable hygiene immaculate innocent integrity neat pristine spotless stainless transparent unblemished unsullied untainted

Sentences including 潔

  • Are your hands clean?

  • The japanese are a very clean people.

  • She always keeps her hair clean.

  • Keep your room clean.

  • His room is kept clean by her.

  • He always keeps his room clean.

  • Let's make it brief.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 水 氵 氺 (mizu・sanzui・shitamizu)

See all kanji with this radical →

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