Kanji Library
Kanji VocabularyJLPT N2 › 史

史 — History

JLPT N25 strokesGrade 5#511 most used
history, chronicle
On’yomi (shi)
Kun’yomi

Stroke order (5 strokes)

1 2 3 4 5

Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).

Common words using 史

WordReadingMeaning
歴史れきし
rekishi
history
史上しじょう
shijou
in history; ever; historical
歴史的れきしてき
rekishiteki
historical; traditional; historic
女史じょし
joshi
lady (of high social status; e.g. scholar, artist, critic, politician); Ms; Mrs
史料しりょう
shiryou
historical materials; historical records; historical sources
史跡しせき
shiseki
historic landmark; historic site; historic remains

Study notes

史 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 5 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 5), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #511 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).

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