善 – virtuous, good, goodness

12 strokesTaught in grade 6#765 in newspaper frequencyN3 vocabulary

The kanji 善 means virtuous, good, goodness. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ゼン (zen); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is よ.い、い.い、よ.く、よし.とする (yoi, ii, yoku, yoshitosuru). It is written with 12 strokes, under radical 口 (no. 30).

Stroke order

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

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ゼン	zen
Kun’yomi	よ.い	yoi
Kun’yomi	い.い	ii
Kun’yomi	よ.く	yoku
Kun’yomi	よし.とする	yoshitosuru

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: 口 (Kangxi radical 30). Components: 王・口・并・羊.

Words using 善

善ぜんgood改善かいぜんbetterment最善さいぜんthe very best親善しんぜんfriendship善良ぜんりょうgood (person, nature, etc.)善し悪しよしあしright or wrong

Example sentences

競争それ自体は善でも悪でもない。

Competition is neither good nor evil in itself.

Tatoeba #181522

２国間の貿易上のアンバランスを改善しなければならない。

The trade imbalance between two nations should be improved.

Tatoeba #235503

それが私たちが今できる最善の方法だ。

That's the best way we can do now.

Tatoeba #205874

Kanji with the same radical

同合員問和名向告品各台口営可商味

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