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Kanji · first appears in JLPT N5 vocabulary
面

面 – mask, face, features

9 strokesTaught in grade 3#186 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 面 means mask, face, features, surface. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is メン、ベン (men, ben); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is おも、おもて、つら (omo, omote, tsura). It is written with 9 strokes, under radical 面 (no. 176).

Stroke order

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

Readings

TypeReadingRomaji
On’yomiメンmen
On’yomiベンben
Kun’yomiおもomo
Kun’yomiおもてomote
Kun’yomiつらtsura

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: (Kangxi radical 176).

Words using 面

面白いおもしろいinteresting真面目まじめserious面めんface面接めんせつinterview (e.g. for a job)面倒めんどうtrouble場面ばめんscene表面ひょうめんsurface地面じめんground正面しょうめんfront水面すいめんwater's surface洗面せんめんwashing one's face方面ほうめんdirection面積めんせきarea (measurement)面倒臭いめんどうくさいbothersome一面いちめんone face側面そくめんside対面たいめんmeeting face-to-face断面だんめんsection直面ちょくめんconfrontation斜面しゃめんslope覆面ふくめんmask面会めんかいmeeting (face-to-face)面目めんぼくface面目めんもくface

Example sentences

新聞には何も面白いことは載っていない。
There is nothing interesting in the newspaper.
Tatoeba #145177
これは私が読んだ中で一番面白い本です。
This is the funniest book in my reading.
Tatoeba #218336
彼女は子供たちに面白い話をしてあげた。
She told her children an amusing story.
Tatoeba #226249

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