JLPT N4 kanji. Readings, meaning, and how the character is built.
歌 means song, to sing. It is a JLPT N4 kanji written in 14 strokes, read うた or か. It is built from 2 parts: 哥 (big brother), 欠 (kneeling person, mouth open). It appears in 歌う (to sing) and 短歌 (31-syllable Japanese poem).
歌 is written in 14 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.
歌 breaks into 2 parts.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 歌 | うた | a song |
| 歌う | うたう | to sing |
| 短歌 | たんか | 31-syllable Japanese poem |
These use 哥 or 欠 too. The part keeps its job from one character to the next, which is what makes it worth learning once.
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