材
材 — Lumber
lumber, log, timber, wood, materials, ingredients
On’yomiザイ (zai)
Kun’yomi—
Stroke order (7 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 材
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 取材 | しゅざい shuzai | gathering material (for an article, novel, etc.); collecting information; covering (an event, incident, etc.) |
| 材料 | ざいりょう zairyou | materials; ingredients; material (for a novel, experiment, etc.) |
| 人材 | じんざい jinzai | capable person; talented person; human resources |
| 素材 | そざい sozai | ingredient; (raw) material; resource |
| 木材 | もくざい mokuzai | lumber; timber; wood |
| 教材 | きょうざい kyouzai | teaching materials |
Study notes
材 is a JLPT N2 kanji written with 7 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #565 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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