Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

kanji

/ˈkaːnd͡ʒi/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English

Syllables
kan-ji
IPA
/ˈkaːnd͡ʒi/
16
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The system of writing Japanese using Chinese characters.

Uncountable

noun

Any individual Chinese character as used in the Japanese language.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A North Indian fermented drink made with beetroot, black mustard seeds, carrots etc.

Uncountable

noun

Drink made from sugarcane vinegar.

Uncountable

noun

Rice gruel made by fermentation of rice and tastes sour.

Uncountable

name

Alternative letter-case form of kanji.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 漢字(かんじ) (kanji, “Chinese characters”), from Middle Chinese 漢 (MC xanH, “Han dynasty, China”) + Middle Chinese 字 (MC dziH, “[written] character”) (Compare Korean 한자 (hanja), Mandarin 漢字 /汉字 (hànzì), Vietnamese Hán tự, Hokkien 漢字 /汉字 (hàn-jī / hàn-lī), Cantonese 漢字 /汉字 (hon³ zi⁶)). Doublet of hanja and Hanzi.

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈkaːnd͡ʒi/

Usage

Inflected Forms

kanjis (plural)

Derived Forms

kanjify

Phrases

jōyō kanji Hán tự

Frequently Paired Words

Hanzi hanja Hán tự kana hiragana katakana kyūjitai romaji

Homonyms

congee (US)

Rhymes With

angie angy angi gangi

Questions

How do you pronounce kanji?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈkaːnd͡ʒi/.
What does kanji mean?
The system of writing Japanese using Chinese characters.
Where does kanji come from?
Borrowed from Japanese 漢字(かんじ) (kanji, “Chinese characters”), from Middle Chinese 漢 (MC xanH, “Han dynasty, China”) + Middle Chinese 字 (MC dziH, “[written] character”) (Compare Korean 한자 (hanja), Mandarin 漢字 /汉字 (hànzì), Vietnamese Hán tự, Hokkien 漢字 /汉字 (hàn-jī / hàn-lī), Cantonese 漢字 /汉字 (hon³ zi⁶)). Doublet of hanja and Hanzi.

How to pronounce kanji

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “kanji”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈkaːnd͡ʒi/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “kanji”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “kanji” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.