Kanji · JLPT N5 · Level 5
何 what
- Meaning
- what
- On reading
- カ
- Kun reading
- なに・なん
Memory hook
The person radical beside 可 (can): someone shouldering a load and asking what on earth it is. なに on its own, なん before most counters. 何時 nanji, 何人 nannin.
Words that use 何
何
なに
what
何時
なんじ
what time
How to write 何
Stroke order · 7 strokes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
- 1. The sweep down to the left.
- 2. Vertical.
- 3. Horizontal.
- 4. Vertical.
- 5. Horizontal, then turn down.
- 6. Horizontal.
- 7. Vertical, ending in a hook.
Stroke data from KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before crossing vertical ones (十 = horizontal, then vertical).
- Outside before inside - but close a box last (口).
- A vertical that passes all the way through comes last (中).
- Left-falling diagonal before right-falling (大).
何 is taught on day 22 of the kanji course, alongside 学 校, with two writing passes and a short quiz.