What is the Kanji for "Poetry" and "Words"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Poetry" and "Words" is "詞".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Kotoba".

Its onyomi reading is "Shi".

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 "訁" means "Say" . And The kanji "司" means "Director" and can be read as "Shi".

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

What does the kanji "詞" mean in japanese?

"詞" means "Poetry" and "Words".

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:

形容詞: "Adjective". The noun '形容詞 (けいようし)' refers to an adjective in the Japanese language. Adjectives in Japanese are used to describe nouns and can provide information about a noun's qualities, states, or attributes. For example: Cute cat - (かわいい猫). The book is old - (その本は古い).

動詞: "Verb". The Japanese word '動詞 (どうし)' refers to a verb, which is a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being. Verbs are a crucial part of speech in the Japanese language and are used to describe actions, events, and conditions. For example: The boy runs - (男の子が走る). I eat sushi - (私は寿司を食べる).

台詞: "Line". The Japanese noun '台詞 (せりふ)' refers to a character's spoken lines or dialogues in a play, film, or other performance. It is used to describe the specific words and phrases that a character says during the course of a story. For example: The actor delivered his lines with great emotion - (俳優は台詞を大変感情的に言った). I couldn't hear the character's lines clearly - (その登場人物の台詞がよく聞こえませんでした).

名詞: "Noun". The Japanese word '名詞 (めいし)' refers to a part of speech that names or identifies a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are essential building blocks of language and can function as subjects, objects, or complements in a sentence. For example: I bought a book - (本を買いました). The house is big - (家は大きいです).

歌詞: "Lyrics". The Japanese noun '歌詞 (かし)' refers to the words of a song or musical composition. Lyrics provide the text that is sung or recited as part of a musical performance. They can express a wide range of themes and emotions. For example: The lyrics of this song are beautiful - (このうたのかしはきれいです). The lyrics tell a sad story - (かしは哀しい物語を話しています).

詞: "Word". The Japanese noun '詞 (し)' means 'word'. This noun refers to a linguistic unit that serves as the smallest meaningful element of speech. Words are the basic building blocks of language and are used to convey meaning. For example: This word is difficult - (この詞は難しい). The new words were added to the dictionary - (新しい詞が辞書に追加されました).

代名詞: "Pronoun". A '代名詞 (だいめいし)' is a pronoun in Japanese. Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns or noun phrases, such as 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they', etc. Some common Japanese pronouns include '私 (わたし)' (I/me), '彼 (かれ)' (he/him), and '彼女 (かのじょ)' (she/her). Pronouns allow speakers to avoid repetition and make sentences more concise. For example: 私は学生です。彼は先生です。(I am a student. He is a teacher.)

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 "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "こ" is read as "ko". The hiragana "と" is read as "to". And The hiragana "ば" is read as "ba".

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.