姉 · older sister

JLPT N5 kanji. Readings, meaning, and how the character is built.

姉 means older sister. It is a JLPT N5 kanji written in 8 strokes, read あね or し. It combines 女 (woman, female), which carries the meaning, with 市, which is there for its sound し. It appears in お姉さん (older sister (formal)).

筆順 · Stroke order

姉 is written in 8 strokes, in the order numbered below. Order matters: it is what makes handwriting legible, and it is how the character is looked up in a paper dictionary.

解字 · What it is made of

姉 breaks into 2 parts.

• 女 semantic woman, female · left carries the meaning
• 市 phonetic market, city · right carries the sound

Words that use 姉

Word	Reading	Meaning
姉	あね	(my) older sister (humble)
お姉さん	おねえさん	older sister (formal)

Characters that share 市

市 tends to carry the sound し. They carry it; they do not all mean the same thing.

	Reading	Meaning
市	し	market, city
姉	し	elder sister
柿	し	persimmon

Built from the same parts

These use 女 or 市 too. The part keeps its job from one character to the next, which is what makes it worth learning once.

• 妹younger sister
• 好like
• 始to start

Practise 姉

Sumi teaches the character before it tests you: stroke order animated, the breakdown above shown as a pull-apart X-ray, then spaced review. Free, in your browser, no signup.

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