長
長 — Long
long, leader, superior, senior
On’yomiチョウ (chou)
Kun’yomiながい (nagai)
Kun’yomiおさ (osa)
Stroke order (8 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 長
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 委員長 | いいんちょう iinchou | chairperson (of a committee); chair; chairman |
| 会長 | かいちょう kaichou | president (of a society); chairman |
| 議長 | ぎちょう gichou | chair; chairman; chairperson |
| 社長 | しゃちょう shachou | company president; manager; director |
| 成長 | せいちょう seichou | growth; development; growing up |
| 長官 | ちょうかん choukan | secretary (government); director; chief |
Study notes
長 is a JLPT N5 kanji written with 8 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 2), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #12 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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