別 – separate, branch off, diverge

7 strokesTaught in grade 4#214 in newspaper frequencyN4 vocabulary

The kanji 別 means separate, branch off, diverge, fork, another, extra, specially. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ベツ (betsu); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is わか.れる、わ.ける (wakareru, wakeru). It is written with 7 strokes, under radical 刀 (no. 18).

Stroke order

Stroke order from KanjiVG. Practise others with the stroke order lookup.

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ベツ	betsu
Kun’yomi	わか.れる	wakareru
Kun’yomi	わ.ける	wakeru

A dot separates the kanji’s part from the okurigana (kana written after it), e.g. まな.ぶ → 学ぶ.

Radical and components

Radical: 刀 (Kangxi radical 18). Components: 刈・口・力・勹.

Words using 別

別べつdistinction特別とくべつspecial別れるわかれるto part (usu. of people)区別くべつdistinction差別さべつdistinction別れわかれparting (of people)別にべつに(not) particularly格別かくべつparticular性別せいべつ(distinction of) sex送別そうべつfarewell別荘べっそうholiday house別々べつべつseparate個別こべつindividual一別いちべつparting

Example sentences

また別のときにチェスをしましょう。

Let's play chess another time.

Tatoeba #195395

これらの本を主題別に分類してください。

Please classify these books by subject.

Tatoeba #217761

特別価格の見積りです。

We have quoted special prices.

Tatoeba #123444

Kanji with the same radical

分前制初判利割切副券劇創則削刊刑

Sources: KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). About the data.