書 — Kanji Meaning, Readings & Example Words (JLPT N5)

What it means

At its core, 書 is all about writing — putting characters, words, and thoughts onto paper (or a screen). You'll meet it in two roles: as a standalone verb (書く, "to write") and as a building block inside lots of words connected to writing, books, and documents (辞書 "dictionary," 図書館 "library," 教科書 "textbook," 書道 "calligraphy"). The payoff is handy: when you spot 書 in an unfamiliar word, you can bet it has something to do with writing or written things — an instant clue to the meaning.

One quick heads-up before we go further: 書く ("to write") looks a lot like 描く ("to draw, to sketch"), and both can be read かく. They are different kanji — 書 is for writing words, 描 is for drawing pictures. More on that below.

Readings

Here's a rule of thumb that works for most kanji, not just this one: the kun'yomi (か.く) shows up when the kanji stands more or less alone with a hiragana ending, while the on'yomi (ショ) appears inside two-kanji (or longer) compound words. So 書く uses か.く, but 辞書 and 図書館 use ショ. Spotting that pattern early helps you guess readings for kanji you haven't even studied yet.

Stroke order & radical

• Strokes: 10, written top to bottom. Start with the strokes of the upper "brush" element, then build the 曰 box at the bottom last, closing it left, top, right, then the inner line and base.
• Radical: the radical of 書 is 曰 (say) — the small box-like shape at the bottom. It's an old pictograph of a mouth speaking, so it makes good sense inside a kanji about putting words down in writing.

A nice memory aid: the top of 書 looks like a hand holding a brush, and the 曰 (say) box at the bottom is the words being spoken — so you "say" something and then your brush writes it down.

Common words using 書

Notice the reading split in action: the lone verb 書く takes か.く, while every compound (辞書, 図書館, 教科書, 読書, 書道) flips to ショ. That's the rule of thumb above, working exactly as advertised. One small twist worth flagging: in 図書館 the 書 is still ショ, but it blends into としょかん — listen for the "sho" hiding in the middle.

Example sentences

Easy to confuse with

書く and 描く can both be read かく, but they are different kanji for different actions:

• 書く — to write (words, letters, characters): 手紙を書く "write a letter."
• 描く — to draw / sketch / depict (pictures): 絵を描く "draw a picture." (描く is also read えがく.)

If words come out, it's 書く. If a picture comes out, it's 描く.

Quick recap

• 書 = write; 10 strokes; radical is 曰 (say).
• か.く when it stands alone (書く); ショ in compounds (辞書, 図書館, 教科書, 読書, 書道).
• Don't mix up 書く (to write words) with 描く (to draw pictures) — same sound かく, different kanji.

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