裁
裁 — Tailor
tailor, judge, decision, cut out (pattern)
On’yomiサイ (sai)
Kun’yomiたつ (tatsu)
Kun’yomiさばく (sabaku)
Stroke order (12 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 裁
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 裁判 | さいばん saiban | trial; judgement; judgment |
| 総裁 | そうさい sousai | president (of an organization); director general; governor (of a central bank) |
| 制裁 | せいさい seisai | sanctions; punishment |
| 地裁 | ちさい chisai | district court |
| 最高裁 | さいこうさい saikousai | Supreme Court |
| 裁判所 | さいばんしょ saibansho | court; courthouse |
Study notes
裁 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #297 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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