Kanji · JLPT N5 · Level 4
兄 older brother
- Meaning
- older brother
- On reading
- キョウ
- Kun reading
- あに
Memory hook
口 (mouth) over a pair of legs: the one with the big mouth telling everyone what to do. キョウ in compounds. お兄さん onīsan for someone else's brother, あに for your own.
Words that use 兄
兄
あに
my older brother
お兄さん
おにいさん
older brother
How to write 兄
Stroke order · 5 strokes
1
2
3
4
5
- 1. The vertical on the left.
- 2. Horizontal across the top, then turn down on the right side.
- 3. The horizontal across the middle.
- 4. The sweep down to the left.
- 5. Vertical, then turn across to the right, ending in a hook.
Stroke data from KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before crossing vertical ones (十 = horizontal, then vertical).
- Outside before inside - but close a box last (口).
- A vertical that passes all the way through comes last (中).
- Left-falling diagonal before right-falling (大).
兄 is taught on day 19 of the kanji course, alongside 父 母 弟, with two writing passes and a short quiz.