What is the Kanji for "Ashes"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Ashes", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Ashes" is "灰".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Hai".

Its onyomi reading is "Kai".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "厂" means "Cliff" . And The kanji "火" means "Fire" and can be read as "Hi", "Ka", and "Ho".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "灰" mean in japanese?

"灰" means "Ashes".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Sixth Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N2 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

灰皿: "Ashtray". The Japanese noun '灰皿 (はいざら)' refers to a container, usually made of glass, ceramic, or metal, that is used to hold cigarette ashes and cigarette butts. Ashtrays are commonly found in places where smoking is permitted, such as homes, offices, restaurants, and bars. For example: I put my cigarette in the ashtray - (私は灰皿にたばこを入れた). The old ashtray is dirty - (古い灰皿が汚れている).

灰: "Ash". The Japanese noun '灰 (はい)' refers to the fine powdery residue left behind after the combustion of a material, typically wood or coal. It is the solid remnants of a fire or burning. '灰' is commonly used to describe the ash left over from fireplaces, cigarettes, or cremation. For example: The fireplace was full of ash - (火鉢には灰がいっぱいあった). I swept up the ashes from the fireplace - (火鉢の灰を掃いた).

灰色: "Gray". The Japanese noun '灰色 (はいいろ)' refers to the color gray. This color is a neutral, achromatic color that is a blend of black and white. It is often associated with neutrality, formality, and calmness. The noun '灰色' can be used to describe the color of various objects, materials, or even a person's mood or disposition. For example: That car is painted in a dark gray color - (あの車は濃い灰色で塗られています). He was in a gray mood today - (彼は今日灰色の気分だった).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "は" is read as "ha". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". And The hiragana "か" is read as "ka".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.