形 – shape, form, style

7 strokesTaught in grade 2#418 in newspaper frequencyN4 vocabulary

The kanji 形 means shape, form, style. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ケイ、ギョウ (kei, gyou); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is かた、-がた、かたち、なり (kata, gata, katachi, nari). It is written with 7 strokes, under radical 彡 (no. 59).

Stroke order

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

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ケイ	kei
On’yomi	ギョウ	gyou
Kun’yomi	かた	kata
Kun’yomi	-がた	gata
Kun’yomi	かたち	katachi
Kun’yomi	なり	nari

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: 彡 (Kangxi radical 59). Components: 廾・彡・ノ・二・一.

Words using 形

形かたち(physical) form人形にんぎょうdoll形態けいたいform形式けいしきform (as opposed to substance)図形ずけいfigure形容詞けいようしadjective正方形せいほうけいsquare長方形ちょうほうけいrectangle形けいform形容動詞けいようどうしadjectival noun (in Japanese)原形げんけいoriginal form形成けいせいformation形勢けいせいcondition地形ちけいterrain

Example sentences

物質は温度によって形を変える。

Matter changes its form according to temperature.

Tatoeba #83744

神は自分の形に人を創造された。

God created man in his own image.

Tatoeba #144909

自然は、環境面での危険に対しては他の形の防御を与えている。

Nature provides other forms of protection against environmental dangers.

Tatoeba #150097

Kanji with the same radical

影彩彫

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