What is the Kanji for "Shine" and "Illuminate"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Shine" and "Illuminate" is "照".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Te".

Its onyomi reading is "Shou".

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 "火" means "Fire" and can be read as "Hi", "Ka", and "Ho". And The kanji "昭" means "Shining" and can be read as "Shou".

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

What does the kanji "照" mean in japanese?

"照" means "Shine" and "Illuminate".

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

Here are some words that use this kanji:

参照: "Reference". The noun '参照 (さんしょう)' means 'reference'. It refers to the act of consulting or looking something up, often to find information or to verify facts. '参照' is commonly used when citing or pointing to other sources, such as documents, articles, or webpages, to support a claim or provide additional context. For example: Please refer to the attached document - (添付書類を参照してください). She found the information by referring to the dictionary - (彼女は辞書を参照して情報を見つけた).

対照: "Contrast" or "Comparison". The Japanese noun '対照 (たいしょう)' means 'contrast' or 'comparison'. It refers to the act of examining two or more things in order to note their similarities and differences. '対照 (たいしょう)' is often used when comparing or contrasting distinct ideas, concepts, or phenomena. For example: The teacher made a contrast between the two poems - (先生は2つの詩を対照した). The art gallery displayed a contrast between traditional and modern paintings - (美術館は伝統的な絵画と現代の絵画を対照して展示した).

照らす: "Illuminate". The Japanese verb '照らす (てらす)' means 'to illuminate'. This verb is used to describe the action of casting light on something, making it visible or bright. It can be used in a literal sense, as in 'The lamp illuminated the room' - (ランプが部屋を照らした), or in a more figurative sense, as in 'Her smile illuminated the room' - (彼女の笑顔が部屋を照らした).

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 "て" is read as "te". The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". And The hiragana "う" is read as "u".

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.