字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

cry, weep, moan

On’yomi キュウ
Kun’yomi な.く

Origin

Water on the left combines with "stand" on the right. The character likely pictures someone standing with tears or water flowing down — the basic image of crying. In old Chinese, this combination of standing and water came to represent the act of weeping or making mournful sounds. The water radical is the key visual hint that this character has to do with tears and emotional outpouring.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

泣 8 strokes

Components

  • 氵 radical left
  • 立 meaning part right

Common words

  • 泣き なき weeping; lamenting
  • 泣く なく to cry; to shed tears
  • 号泣 ごうきゅう crying loudly; bawling
  • 泣き声 なきごえ cry (e.g. of a baby); sob
  • 泣き顔 なきがお crying face; face of a person who is crying
  • 悔し泣き くやしなき crying from vexation; tears of regret

Related kanji

Same radical
Shares components

Reference

Strokes
8
Kangxi radical
85
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1380 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06CE3