字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

red

On’yomi セキ、シャク
Kun’yomi あか、あか-、あか.い、あか.らむ、あか.らめる
Nanori あ、あこ、あま

Origin

This character appears to be a picture of fire or flames, which naturally connects to the color red. The strokes suggest flickering movement upward, like fire rising, and ancient peoples would have associated the bright glow of fire with the color red. Over time, the character's shape became more stylized and geometric, but it retained its meaning of the color red because of this original connection to fire's appearance.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

赤 7 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (赤).

Common words

  • 赤い あかい red; crimson
  • 赤軍 せきぐん Red Army (Soviet Union, 1918-1946); Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
  • 赤字 あかじ (being in) the red; deficit
  • 赤道 せきどう equator
  • 赤飯 せきはん red rice (beans and mochi) for auspicious occasions
  • 赤面 せきめん blushing; getting red in the face
  • 赤痢 せきり dysentery
  • 赤色 あかいろ red; red color

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
155
Grade
Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#584 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+08D64