Grade One Kanji Part 3: 音 下 火 花 貝

This is Part 3 of a series for learning the 80 characters Japanese students learn the first year in elementary school. In this post you will learn the following kanji:

音 下 火 花 貝

You can find the previous post in Grade One Kanji Part 2: 目 立 力 林 六

音 (おと、おん) : Sound

The kanji 音 in Japanese is pronounced as おん or おと. The word for Sound in Japanese is おと.

音がく(おんがく) : Music
ろく音 (ろくおん) : Recording
はつ音 (はつおん) : Pronunciation

下 (した、か) : Below

下 is a kanji that means below or bottom. It is pronounced as か in most words but sometimes げ. It is also pronounced as した which means lower, below, or bottom in Japanese.

い下 (いか) : Less than
ち下 (ちか) : Underground
ぶ下 (ぶか) : Subordinate

火 (ひ、か) : Fire

First in Japanese is ひ and written with the kanji 火. When this character combines with others in words it also usually means the same thing and is pronounced か.

花火 (はなび) : Fireworks
火ようび (かようび) : Tuesday
火さい (かさい) : Fire

花 (はな、か) : Flower

花 is the kanji for flower in Japanese which is はな. This character is also pronounced か.

花火 (はなび) : Fireworks
花ふん (かふん) : Pollen
花み (はなみ) : Cherry-blossom viewing

貝 (かい) : Shell, Shellfish

貝 means shell or shellfish in Japanese.

貝づか (かいづか) : Kaizuka (shell mound)

Resources

Japanese Ministry of Education