[Day 1] 日 - Sun, Day
Daily Japanese Kanji
R-report
[Day 1] 日 - Sun, Day
日 is one of the most common kanji in Japanese, and it comes from a simple picture of the sun. On its own, it means "sun" or "day." You will see it constantly — in calendars, in greetings, and in ordinary conversation about time. Readings: On'yomi ニチ (nichi) and ジツ (jitsu) — used in compound words like 日本 (Japan). Kun'yomi ひ (hi) and か (ka) — used for standalone or native-Japanese usage. Memory tip: picture a simple square with a line through it — the oldest form of this character was a circle with a dot inside, drawn to look like the sun. Once you can spot 日 in a word, you already know it involves "day" or "sun" in some way. Below are five everyday words built from 日 — read each one aloud with its romaji before moving to the quiz.
Readings
On'yomi: **ニチ・ジツ** (nichi, jitsu) Kun'yomi: **ひ・か** (hi, ka)
Related words
- 日本（にほん / nihon） — Japan. • **日本**語を勉強します。 (Nihongo o benkyō shimasu. — "I study Japanese.")
- 今日（きょう / kyō） — today. • **今日**は月曜日です。 (Kyō wa getsuyōbi desu. — "Today is Monday.")
- 日曜日（にちようび / nichiyōbi） — Sunday. • **日曜日**は休みです。 (Nichiyōbi wa yasumi desu. — "Sunday is a day off.")
- 毎日（まいにち / mainichi） — every day. • **毎日**日本語を勉強します。 (Mainichi nihongo o benkyō shimasu. — "I study Japanese every day.")
- 日記（にっき / nikki） — diary. • **日記**を書きます。 (Nikki o kakimasu. — "I write a diary.")