Kanji

/ˈkɑːndʒi/ noun

Definition

The Japanese writing system using characters adopted from Chinese, where each character represents a word or part of a word.

Etymology

From Japanese 'kanji,' literally meaning 'Han characters.' 'Kan' refers to the Han dynasty in China, and 'ji' means character. The characters were introduced to Japan from China around the 5th century.

Kelly Says

Japanese students must learn about 2,000 kanji characters to read a newspaper, while English speakers only need 26 letters! Each kanji is like a tiny picture that carries meaning—the character for 'tree' actually looks like a tree, and three trees together means 'forest.'

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