📖 Meaning & Origin
The 日 radical represents the sun. Originally an ancient pictogram of a circle with a central dot: the glowing sun. It appears in kanji related to time, light, and daily life.
📚 Kanji by JLPT Level
✍️ Where it appears & how it changes shape
日 keeps the same square shape wherever it appears, but it narrows when it sits on the left as a hen: compare the wide 日 standing alone with the tall, compressed one in 時 and 明. It also sits on top (早, 星) and at the bottom (春). Unlike water or hand, it has no separate side-form to learn.
🔍 Don't confuse it with
One extra horizontal stroke inside, and taller than it is wide. 目 is the eye; 日 is the sun.
Adds a vertical stroke crossing the middle, splitting the box into four. 田 is a rice field.
A short stroke added on top of 日. White, not sun.
📈 Beyond N5 — what comes next
| Kanji | Reading | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 曜 | よう | day of the week | N4 |
| 晴 | せい / はれる | clear weather | N4 |
| 暗 | あん / くらい | dark | N4 |
| 春 | しゅん / はる | spring | N4 |
JLPT does not publish official kanji lists by level. These levels follow the commonly used reference lists and are a guide, not a guarantee.
🗣️ Words you will actually meet
Irregular: neither kanji is read as expected. This is a jukujikun, a reading assigned to the word as a whole.
Note 日 is read にち in the first position and び at the end.
🎯 How to use this radical in JLPT study
日 splits into two meaning families, so learn it carefully. Some kanji are about light and weather (明, 晴, 暗); others about time and days (時, 曜, 早). Meet an unfamiliar kanji with 日 in it and guess 'days or brightness'. You will usually be right. The trap is assuming every kanji with 日 refers to the sun: in 時 and 曜 the meaning is time, not sunlight. A second frequent slip is writing 日 and 目 with the same number of strokes; 日 has four, 目 has five.
💡 Teacher's Memory Tip
Picture a little window letting sunlight in, with four sides and a bar in the middle. Wherever you see 日, think 'sun or time.'
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
The 日 radical means 'sun' or 'day.' It evolved from an ancient circle-with-dot sun pictogram into today's rectangular form.
N5 kanji with 日: 日 (day/sun), 明 (bright, sun + moon together), 早 (early, sun rising), 時 (time, contains 日 on the left).
Imagine a small window (□) with a crossbar, with sunlight streaming through. Any kanji with 日 deals with the sun, daytime, or the passage of time.
Other N5 Radicals
Practice 「日」 kanji with AI
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