男 · man, male

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

男 means man, male. It is a JLPT N5 kanji written in 7 strokes, read おとこ or なん. It is built from 2 parts: 田 (rice field, rice paddy), 力 (power, strength). It appears in 男の子 (boy) and 男性 (man).

筆順 · Stroke order

男 is written in 7 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

男 breaks into 2 parts.

• 田 semantic rice field, rice paddy · top carries the meaning
• 力 other power, strength · bottom component

Words that use 男

Word	Reading	Meaning
男	おとこ	man / male
男の子	おとこのこ	boy
男性	だんせい	man

Built from the same parts

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

• 思think
• 町town
• 畑farm
• 助to help
• 勉exertion

Practise 男

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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