Kanji Library
Kanji VocabularyJLPT N1 › 鋼

鋼 — Steel

JLPT N116 strokesGrade 6#1246 most used
steel
On’yomiコウ (kou)
Kun’yomiはがね (hagane)

Stroke order (16 strokes)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

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

Common words using 鋼

WordReadingMeaning
鉄鋼てっこう
tekkou
iron and steel
製鋼せいこう
seikou
steel manufacture
はがね
hagane
steel; sword steel; sword
鋼材こうざい
kouzai
steel material
鋼板こうはん
kouhan
steel sheet; steel plate
粗鋼そこう
sokou
crude steel

Study notes

鋼 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 16 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 6), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1246 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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