What is the Kanji for "Shelf"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Shelf" is "棚".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Tana".

Its onyomi reading is "Hou".

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 kanji "木" means "Tree" and "Wood" and can be read as "Boku", "Ki", "Moku", and "Ko". And The component "朋" .

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

What does the kanji "棚" mean in japanese?

"棚" means "Shelf".

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

Here are some words that use this kanji:

本棚: "Bookshelf". The Japanese noun '本棚 (ほんだな)' refers to a piece of furniture used for storing and displaying books. It is typically a tall, vertical structure with multiple shelves or compartments designed to hold and organize books. 本棚はたくさんの本を収納できます。(The bookshelf can store many books.) 本棚の上に花を置きました。(I placed flowers on top of the bookshelf.)

棚: "Shelf". The Japanese noun '棚 (たな)' means 'shelf'. A shelf is a flat, horizontal surface, typically made of wood or metal, attached to a wall or other vertical surface, used to store or display objects. Shelves can be used in various settings, such as in kitchens, living rooms, or offices, to organize and store items. For example: There are three shelves in the cabinet - (戸棚には3枚の棚が付いている). Let's put the books on the shelf - (本を棚に置きましょう).

戸棚: "Cabinet". The Japanese noun '戸棚 (とだな)' refers to a cabinet or cupboard, typically used for storage purposes. It is commonly found in kitchens or other areas of a home to store dishes, foodstuffs, or other household items. For example: The dishes are kept in the cabinet - (食器は戸棚に入っている). Can you please pass me something from the cabinet? - (戸棚から何か取ってくれませんか?)

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 "ほ" is read as "ho". The hiragana "う" is read as "u". The hiragana "た" is read as "ta". And The hiragana "な" is read as "na".

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.