What is the Kanji for "Demon" and "Ogre"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Demon" and "Ogre" is "鬼".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Oni".

Its onyomi reading is "Ki".

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 3 parts:

The component "甶" . The radical "儿" means "Legs" . And The radical "厶" means "Private" .

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

What does the kanji "鬼" mean in japanese?

"鬼" means "Demon" and "Ogre".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Junior Highschool, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N1 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

鬼: "Demon" or "Ogre". The Japanese noun '鬼 (おに)' refers to a type of supernatural creature or monster in Japanese folklore. Oni are often depicted as large, fierce-looking creatures with horns, fangs, and great strength. They are generally considered to be malevolent spirits that bring misfortune and wrath. Oni are a common element in Japanese cultural works, appearing in literature, art, and media. For example: The children were afraid of the oni - (子供たちは鬼を恐れていた). The festival featured a parade of colorful oni masks - (祭りでは色鮮やかな鬼のマスクのパレードがあった).

餓鬼: "Beggar" or "Hell-dweller". The Japanese noun '餓鬼 (がき)' refers to a being in Buddhist mythology that is doomed to suffer from eternal hunger and thirst. It can also be used to describe a person who is greedy, selfish, or who begs excessively. For example: The beggar on the street is a true 餓鬼 - (その通りの餓鬼は本当にあいつだ). The greedy person at the party was acting like a 餓鬼 - (そのパーティーの欲深い人間は餓鬼のようだった).

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 "き" is read as "ki". The hiragana "お" is read as "o". And The hiragana "に" is read as "ni".

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.