Kanji - Level 9 - Kanji

Question 1

受

Answer 1

Accept
Radicals: ⺤ cleat + 冖 forehead + 又 stool
You’re sitting on a stool and someone cleats you in the forehead as part of an acceptance ritual. It’s for the most prestigious Spanish soccer club in the world. You got knocked off the stool, and the cleats really hurt your forehead, but you’re just glad to have been accepted.
Reading: じゅ
After you’ve been accepted, they give you a small juice (じゅ) box to help you recover from the trauma of getting kicked. And you receive it with grace. This kanji also means receive, which is quite similar to accept. It shouldn’t be too hard to remember.
Reading:

Question 2

事

Answer 2

Action
Radicals: 十 cross + 口 mouth + ヨ wolverine
You put a cross in the mouth of a wolverine. What a strange action. Why would you do such a thing? The fact of the matter is that you’re not too sure why you put that cross in the wolverine’s mouth.
Reading: じ
This action doesn’t impress Jesus (じ), who appears and gently removes the cross from the wolverine’s mouth.

Question 3

美

Answer 3

Beauty
Radicals: 羊 sheep + 大 big
A sheep that’s big is a true beauty. Big is beautiful, and that’s all the more true for sheep.
Readings: び, み
The big sheep’s beauty has attracted a swarm of bees (び). The sheep is so beautiful that the bees have mistaken it for a flower.

Question 4

予

Answer 4

Beforehand
Radicals: マ mama + 丁 street
What does your mama tell you to do in the street? Look before you cross! You gotta do it beforehand, or it could be too late.
Reading: よ
As you look beforehand, you see a yo-yo (よ) lying in the street.

Question 5

服

Answer 5

Clothes
Radicals: 月 moon +卩 stamp + 又 stool
Take the moon stamp on the stool in front of you and use it on all of your clothes. Now even if you sell or lose a piece of clothing, you’ll be able to find it again by checking for your special moon stamp.
Reading: ふく
A few days later you’re with a friend when you recognize the clothes they’re wearing. You grab it, rip it off, and scream, “F**k (ふく) you!” There is your moon stamp! These are your clothes!!

Question 6

度

Answer 6

Degree
Radicals: [?] Unicode: 广 + 廿 yurt + 又 stool
A yurt’s stool is always placed at certain degrees. The degrees change depending on specific occurrences.
Reading: ど, たく
Also angled at exact degrees is the dog (ど).

Question 7

発

Answer 7

Departure
Radicals: 癶 tent + 开 lantern
Once you remove the lantern from the tent, we will be ready for departure. We can’t leave the lantern inside of the tent; that’s a fire hazard. We’d best take it with us before the departure. Don’t you agree?
Reading: はつ
Oh! Don’t forget your hats (はつ) either. Wouldn’t want to start a departure without hats or a lantern. That’d be a short journey.

Question 8

定

Answer 8

Determine
Radicals: 宀 roof + 正 correct
A roof is correct only if you determine that it is.
Readings: てい, じょう
You determined it, but you still have to test this determination. You go to the top and roll a tater (てい) tot down the roof. Tater tots will only roll down a perfectly correct roof.

Question 9

表

Answer 9

Express
Radicals: 生 life + 𧘇 kick
Sometimes life gives you a kick, and you have to express yourself to deal with it!
Reading: ひょう
You need to express yourself, so you call up a friend and say “Heyo!” (ひょう).

Question 10

客

Answer 10

Guest
Radicals: 宀 roof + 夂 winter + 口 mouth
Under your roof in winter there are more mouths to feed because you let guests stay with you when it’s cold. Some of them aren’t family, so they have to pay to stay under your roof and get food. Those are customers.
Reading: きゃく
One of your guests is a regular named Kyaku (きゃく) the customer. Kyaku is always staying over at one place or another, so everyone knows their name.

Question 11

重

Answer 11

Heavy
Radicals: 重 heavy
The heavy radical and the heavy kanji are the same.
Readings: じゅう, ちょう
In your hand is a very heavy jewel (じゅう). Real jewels are always heavier than they look.

Question 12

持

Answer 12

Hold
Radicals: 扌fingers + 寺 temple
You need to get your fingers around a temple if you want to hold it. Is the temple too big? Hold smaller temples you can buy in the temple’s souvenir shop.
Reading: じ
As you hold the temple you hear a voice. You look down through your fingers and see a tiny Jesus (じ). He’s smiling and gives you a thumbs up. Aww, thanks Jesus!

Question 13

負

Answer 13

Lose
Radicals: 勹 prison + 貝 shellfish
When you’re in prison, whoever ends up with the shellfish will lose. It’s the game all prisoners play. It’s like keep away from the shellfish. And if you end up with the shellfish BZZZZTT that’s it, you’re the loser.
Reading: ふ
If you lose, you’re a fool (ふ). All you had to do was not hold the prison shellfish. It really shouldn’t have been that hard to not lose, ya fool.

Question 14

相

Answer 14

Mutual
Radicals: 木 tree + 目 eye
You need to look a tree in the eye to gain a mutual respect for each other. Stand up straight, look the tree directly in its eye(s). If it looks right back, you know things are mutual.
Readings: そう, しょう
If your respect for the tree is mutual with the respect the tree feels for you, you’ll be able to see the tree’s soul (そう). Right now its soul looks pretty sad, like it’s trying to say, “Why are your people cutting down all my friends? I thought we had a mutual understanding.”

Question 15

要

Answer 15

Need
Radicals: 覀 helicopter + 女 woman
A woman who pilots a helicopter will have the insatiable need for something. She doesn’t know what it is. But she needs it. And that’s why she’s flying around looking for it!
Reading: よう
Finally she knows what she needs! It’s yogurt (よう)! Delicious, creamy yogurt!

Question 16

新

Answer 16

New
Radicals: 立 stand + 木 tree + 斤 axe
There’s a standing tree that you’re taking an axe to. You’re going to cut down this tree to let a new tree grow.
Reading: しん
You cut down the tree to make room for a new one, but it falls on your shin (しん).

Question 17

部

Answer 17

Part
Radicals: 咅 clown + 阝building
The clown building is over in that part of town. We keep the clown part as separate as we can from the rest of the normal people. In fact, the entire clown education department and their clown clubs have to stay in their part, they can’t come in ours.
Reading: ぶ
You see, that part of town is full of booze (ぶ). Clowns need a lot of booze to keep their charade going, so we just let them have it. But they aren’t allowed in our part anymore, because they all stink of nasty clown booze.

Question 18

和

Answer 18

Peace
Radicals: 禾 grain + 口 mouth
When everyone has grain in their mouth, you will have peace. That is the Japanese style of doing things.
Readings: わ, お
Peace is the Japanese style. The walruses (わ) living off of Japan see this, and start to emulate.

Question 19

県

Answer 19

Prefecture
Radicals: 目 eye + L lion + 小 small
The eye of a small lion gazes upon the prefecture that will one day become his. He’s a small lion, but once he grows up, everything reflected in his eye will be his prefecture to rule over.
Reading: けん
This small lion’s prefecture is being protected by Ken (けん) the samurai because the lion is too small to protect all of this land himself. Ken the samurai is used to wandering far and wide, so one, eye-sized prefecture is nothing to him.

Question 20

保

Answer 20

Preserve
Radicals: ｲ leader + 口 mouth + 木 tree
The mouth of a tree leader is all about trying to preserve the trees. In fact, she guarantees that she will preserve the trees if it’s the last thing she does.
Reading: ほ
She chains herself to a tree to preserve them. But, unfortunately, the lumberjacks just take a giant back hoe (ほ) and tear this tree leader and the tree she’s attached to in half.

Question 21

返

Answer 21

Return
Radicals: ⻌ scooter + 反 anti
Your scooter is anti scoot. It doesn’t want to run. So you have to return it.
Reading: へん
You return to the store and wait in line to return the scooter but the person working returns doesn’t want you to return it. He stares you dead in the eyes, waves his hand, and turns you into a hen (へん)!

Question 22

乗

Answer 22

Ride
Radicals: 禾 grain + 口 mouth
You put a grain in your mouth and let it take a ride. This kanji has the same radicals as 和, but this time the grain is in your mouth, which is why there’s little pieces of grain sticking out of the 口 part ;)
Reading: の
You decide the grain is probably lonely on this ride alone, so you add some nori (の) seaweed, so it has a friend.

Question 23

屋

Answer 23

Roof
Radicals: 尸 flag + 一 ground + ム private + 土 dirt
Some of your private dirt is on the ground, so you stick a flag into it. Then on this private land you claimed, you build a roof. Under the roof you also build some shops and stores.
Reading: や
The roof covering the dirt is there so that the Yankees (や) can play baseball year round. The stores and shops are there to sell hot dogs and Yankees memorabilia.

Question 24

売

Answer 24

Sell
Radicals: 士 samurai + 冖 forehead + 儿 legs
There’s a samurai with (just) his forehead and legs. Everything in between is missing. What happened to everything in between? He was low on money, so he had to sell it all, leaving him with only the top and the bottom.
Reading: ばい
If you see a samurai trying to sell all their body parts here’s what you should say, “Bye (ばい)!” and just get the heck out of there. Actually, if anyone tries to sell you a body part you should probably say bye over and over until you can get away from them.

Question 25

送

Answer 25

Send
Radicals: ⻌ scooter + 丷 horns + 天 heaven
On its scooter, a horned creature from heaven will take things you want to send there.
Reading: そう
You want to send your soul (そう) to heaven. I mean, you don’t want it to go to some of those other places you’ve heard of, so why not send your soul?

Question 26

苦

Answer 26

Suffering
Radicals: 艹 flowers + 古 old
Old flowers are suffering because they’re old.
Reading: く
If an old flower (or person) is suffering, give them a cookie (く).

Question 27

泳

Answer 27

Swim
Radicals: 氵tsunami + 永 eternity
If a tsunami is going to last an eternity you better learn how to swim now. We’ll be under water for the rest of time and if you can’t swim you’re not gonna make it.
Reading: およ
Oy (およ)! Oy, stop daydreaming about swimming and actually do it!

Question 28

談

Answer 28

Talk
Radicals: 言 say + 火 fire
You say things around a fire. In fact there are two fires, and you’re talking with a group of people, all sitting around two nice campfires.
Reading: だん
You talk in this intense, fiery way all the way until dawn (だん), but no longer! Once dawn comes the discussion needs to be concluded.

Question 29

仮

Answer 29

Temporary
Radicals: ｲ leader + 反 anti
Your leader is very anti-everything, making it all temporary. You get a new shirt, “I’m anti shirts!” she yells, and out it goes.
Reading: か
The leader’s most temporary possession is her car (か). Or… cars, because they’re all very temporary. She buys one, drives it around, and then suddenly she’s anti red car. She needs a blue one!

Question 30

験

Answer 30

Test
Radicals: 馬 horse + 㑒 squid
A horse and a squid are taking a test.
Reading: けん
The test is being supervised by Ken (けん) the samurai.

Question 31

物

Answer 31

Thing
Radicals: 牛 cow + 勿 wing
A winged cow is flying in the air. What a strange thing! You’ve heard of flying pigs before, but cows? This is a new and strange thing indeed! Cows with wings! What a silly thing to imagine.
Readings: ぶつ, もつ
You want a thing to help you fly with the cow so you put on your flying boots (ぶつ). Your flying boots are a pretty strange thing in themselves, but they’re the only way you can keep up.

Question 32

具

Answer 32

Tool
Radicals: 目 eye + 一 ground + ハ fins
An eye and fins litter the ground. What happened? You killed a fish. You must hide the murder tool before someone finds out it was you.
Reading: ぐ
There’s goo (ぐ) all over your hands. Goopy goo. It’s the guts of the fish you just killed and it’s dripping off of the tool as well. Yuck.

Question 33

実

Answer 33

Truth
Radicals: 宀 roof + 𡗗 spring
Climb onto the roof in spring to see the truth. The world is waking back up from winter and revealing the reality of what it is all around you.
Reading: じつ
At the moment, you’re trying to learn the truth about the deer that is coming out of the snowy woods when you see not one, but two baby deer appear with it! Gee! Two (じつ) babies! You keep looking around and realize that all of the animals seem to have two babies that they had hidden in the snow.

Question 34

試

Answer 34

Try
Radicals: 言 say + 弋 ceremony + 工 construction
If you want to say something at a ceremony for construction workers you’re going to have to try really hard. Construction is loud, so if you want to be heard you have to attempt to be louder than the drilling and smashing and digging and handing out of awards.
Reading: し
You try to get their attention the only way you know how, by lifting a sheep (し) above your head. The sheep baas and suddenly everything is silent, all eyes are on you. Well, they’re on the sheep.

Question 35

使

Answer 35

Use
Radicals: ｲ leader + 一 ground + 史 history
A good leader can put the ground’s history to great use. You are a good leader. You have studied the ground and dirt of the earth your entire life. You know the history of the ground and you know how to use it to lead your people.
Reading: し
You use the ground to raise sheep (し). When you were down there sniffing around you realized that your people will flourish best if you use this land for grazing and raising sheep.

Question 36

勝

Answer 36

Win
Radicals: 月 moon + 龹 gladiator + 力 power
The moon grants a gladiator its power so he will win! Victory will be his!
Reading: しょう
He wins over and over again, and soon the Shougun (しょう) is even rooting for him. In fact, the Shougun claims him as his personal gladiator of choice.

Question 37

界

Answer 37

World
Radicals: 田 rice paddy + 介 jammed in
All the rice paddies are jammed into the world.
Reading: かい
To get around this world of rice paddies, you need to use a kayak (かい).