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Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone.
Welcome to the Japanese Kanji video series.
In this lesson, you'll learn the "one" radical.
Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean?
(pause for 4 seconds)
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters.
一、世、上、子
First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters?
(pause for 4 seconds)
It's this part here. It's a single horizontal stroke.
This particular radical is called...
一
いち、which literally means one.
The "one" radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail.
Meaning
The "one" radical means exactly that, the number "one."
一
From left to right, the first kanji means "one," the second means "world" or "era," the third character means "above," and fourth character means "child."
一、世、上、子
As you can see in the first example, the "one" radical is also a kanji character on its own.
The second kanji is actually a reduction of another kanji meaning "leaf." The leaves and branches that grow on top of the tree are thought to represent a different "age" or "generation" of leaves and branches.
枼
The one radical here unifies the leaves and branches from a generation. The meaning of this kanji can be interpreted as "world" or "epoch."
The third kanji is an ideogram which shows the concept of "up" or "above" by having one horizontal line above another.
The fourth kanji is a pictogram. The top portion represents the baby's head, while the lower portion represents its body wrapped in a blanket.
The "one" radical here, signifies the baby's arms spreading, or growing into a child. So the meaning of this kanji is "child."
Common positions
The "one" radical appears in many different positions. It commonly sits in the crown position...
like in the kanji for "world" or "era."
世
Another common position is at the bottom in the "foot" position...
as seen in the kanji for "above."
上
Okay. Now let's learn how to write this radical.
Stroke Order
The "one" radical is incredibly simple to write.
It has only *one* stroke.
The concept of "one" is represented by a single stroke that goes from left to right.
It's important to note that this horizontal stroke, rises ever so slightly as it approaches the right side.
And that's it! You're done!
Common Readings
When the "one" radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as...
一
イチ、イツ for the on reading
and ひと、ひとつ for the kun reading
When the "one" radical is part of another kanji...
セ、セイ、よ
世
for the "world" or "epoch" kanji
ジョウ、うえ、のぼ
上
for the kanji meaning "above." And...
シ、こ
子
for the "child" kanji.
Lesson Review
In this lesson, you learned about the "one" radical.
The "one" radical looks like a single horizontal stroke and it signifies the concept of "one."
You also learned the kanji characters for "one," "world" or "epoch," "above," and "child," in which this radical appears.
It's most commonly found in the crown or bottom position.
And it's written with just one horizontal stroke going from left to right.
In the next lesson, you'll learn about another common radical used in some of the most common and basic kanji characters, the "word" radical.
See you in the next lesson. Bye!
Bye~!

Kanji

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