何 – what

7 strokesTaught in grade 2#340 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 何 means what. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is カ (ka); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is なに、なん、なに-、なん- (nani, nan, nani, nan). It is written with 7 strokes, under radical 人 (no. 9).

Stroke order

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

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	カ	ka
Kun’yomi	なに	nani
Kun’yomi	なん	nan
Kun’yomi	なに-	nani
Kun’yomi	なん-	nan

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: 人 (Kangxi radical 9). Components: 化・口・亅・一.

Words using 何

何なんwhat何かなにかsomething何でなんでwhy?何でもなんでもany何とかなんとかsomething何分なにぶんsome何しろなにしろin any case何ともなんともreally何々なになにwhat何だかなんだか(a) little何気ないなにげないcasual

Example sentences

何と言ったら良いか分かりません。

I don't know what I should say.

Tatoeba #4711

ここの家、何匹猫がいるの？

How many cats are there in this house?

Tatoeba #224370

私は何軒もの店でその本を探しました。

I inquired about the book in many stores.

Tatoeba #158106

Kanji with the same radical

会人今代体作以保信件側任使係価住

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