最 – utmost, most, extreme

12 strokesTaught in grade 4#82 in newspaper frequencyN4 vocabulary

The kanji 最 means utmost, most, extreme. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is サイ、シュ (sai, shu); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is もっと.も、つま (mottomo, tsuma). It is written with 12 strokes, under radical 曰 (no. 73).

Stroke order

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

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	サイ	sai
On’yomi	シュ	shu
Kun’yomi	もっと.も	mottomo
Kun’yomi	つま	tsuma

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: 曰 (Kangxi radical 73). Components: 一・耳・日・又.

Words using 最

最近さいきんrecently最ももっともmost最後さいごend最初さいしょbeginning最高さいこうbest最終さいしゅうlast最中さいちゅう(in) the middle of最低さいていleast最さいthe most最善さいぜんthe very best最中さなか(in) the middle of

Example sentences

最近、彼のうわさを耳にしていない。

We haven't heard of him lately.

Tatoeba #170732

大丈夫、誠実でいれば最後には報われるよ。

I can assure you that honesty pays in the long run.

Tatoeba #137498

伝説の最後の部分は後世付け加えられたものだ。

The last part of the legend was added later.

Tatoeba #124928

Kanji with the same radical

書曲更替

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