刀 Sword

Radical Combination

• 刀

  Sword

Meaning

Primary

Sword

Alternative

Katana

Mnemonic

The radical and the meaning of this kanji are almost the same! The radical is sword, but we're learning Japanese, so can you name a Japanese sword? That's right, the most common is a katana, which happens to be the meaning of this kanji as well.

Hints

This kanji also looks a lot like the kanji 力. To avoid getting them confused, remember that this one is missing the little nubbin at the top, because 90% of the power comes from the sword to cut your enemies down (which is why the sword kanji is 90% of the power kanji).

Readings

On’yomi

とう

Kun’yomi

かたな

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

So now you have this sweet katana in your hands and you're swinging it around like an idiot. Feel free to make whooshing noises as you swing it around. To become a master katana wielder, you decide to travel to とうきょう (Tokyo). とうきょう has the best sword and katana schools in the world, so it makes sense to travel to とうきょう.

Hints

Imagine trying to travel to とうきょう with your katana. Airport security is not happy with you trying to take a katana on the plane, so you get a full cavity search. I hope you don't have any other swords hidden anywhere.