字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

crimson, deep red

On’yomi コウ、ク
Kun’yomi べに、くれない、あか.い
Nanori くれ、もみ

Origin

The character 紅 combines the thread radical 糸 on the left with 工 on the right as a sound hint. The thread radical makes sense because crimson and deep red dyes were historically created from plant materials that had to be processed and used to dye fabrics and threads. The 工 component doesn't contribute a meaning but signals roughly how the character was pronounced in Chinese, helping readers know to read it as "kou" or "ku." Together, the visual and phonetic elements created a character that came to represent the rich red colors associated with dyed textiles in East Asia.

紅 9 strokes

Components

  • 糸 radical left
  • 工 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 口紅 くちべに lipstick
  • 紅茶 こうちゃ black tea
  • 紅梅 こうばい red-blossomed plum tree; red Japanese apricot
  • 紅白 こうはく red and white; colours for festive or auspicious occasions (colors)
  • 紅葉 こうよう leaves turning red (in autumn); red leaves
  • 紅潮 こうちょう flush; blush

Related kanji

Same sound component 工
Same radical

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
120
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1299 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+07D05