字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

boulevard, street, town

On’yomi ガイ、カイ
Kun’yomi まち
Nanori また

Origin

The character 街 is built around the "road" or "movement" radical 行, which appears on both sides to frame the meaning. In the middle sits 圭, which serves as a sound hint for how to pronounce the character rather than contributing to its meaning. The framing structure with 行 on either side suggests something related to paths or movement, while the central sound component helps speakers remember the pronunciation. Together, this combination creates a character that represents a street or town—a place defined by its roads and pathways.

街 12 strokes

Components

  • 行 radical enclosure
  • 圭 sound hint
  • 行 radical enclosure

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

Common words

  • 街角 まちかど street corner
  • 街灯 がいとう street light; streetlamp
  • 街頭 がいとう (on the) street
  • 街道 かいどう highway (esp. one existing from the Edo period); main road
  • 街路 がいろ road; street
  • 市街 しがい urban areas; the streets
  • 街路樹 がいろじゅ roadside trees
  • 歓楽街 かんらくがい entertainment district; amusement area

Related kanji

Same sound component 圭
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
144
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#891 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+08857