遠
遠 — Distant
distant, far
On’yomiエン (en)
On’yomiオン (on)
Kun’yomiとおい (tooi)
Stroke order (13 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 遠
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 永遠 | えいえん eien | eternity; perpetuity; permanence |
| 遠征 | えんせい ensei | (military) expedition; campaign; expedition (for exploration, research, etc.) |
| 望遠鏡 | ぼうえんきょう bouenkyou | telescope |
| 遠隔 | えんかく enkaku | distant; remote; isolated |
| 遠慮 | えんりょ enryo | reserve; constraint; restraint |
| 敬遠 | けいえん keien | pretending to respect (someone) while in fact staying distant; keeping at arm's length; giving a wide berth |
Study notes
遠 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 13 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #887 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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