kanji
Americannoun
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kanji,
plural
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kanjis
plural
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a system of Japanese writing using Chinese-derived characters.
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a character in this system.
noun
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a Japanese writing system using characters mainly derived from Chinese ideograms
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a character in this system
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of kanji
1915–20; < Japanese < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese hàn Han (i.e., China) + zì characters
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most kanji have two or more pronunciations, and a further 50,000 or so rarely used kanji exist.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 15, 2023
According to the nursing home where Tanaka lived, on days when she was feeling well, she would do exercises with other residents and solve kanji or calculation problems.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
Later, the kanji characters for “kara-te” were changed to spell the phrase “empty hand.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 2021
One of his most famous designs for the singer was a cape covered in Japanese kanji characters.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2020
“Oh... a little old churchgoing ammooma, quiet and clean... idi appams for breakfast, kanji and meen for lunch. Minding her own business. Not looking right or left.”
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
