ChiramiN5 kanji · 5 strokes
外 means outside
夕 evening · 卜 looks like a signpost
外Memory trick
Evening (夕), and someone's still out by the signpost (卜): outside.
Memory trick: a picture to help you remember the kanji, not its history.
Meaning and readings
- Meaning
- outside
- JLPT level
- N5
- Strokes
- 5
- School grade
- Grade 2 in Japan
Japanese (kunyomi) そと soto
そと (soto) is the Japanese word for this kanji. You use it when the kanji stands alone or has kana after it. Dictionaries call this the kun reading.
Other Japanese readings: ほか hoka, はずす hazusu, はずれる hazureru
From Chinese (onyomi) ガイ gai
ガイ (gai) came from Chinese with the character. You mostly hear it in words made of several kanji. Dictionaries call this the on reading.
Other readings from Chinese: ゲ ge
Tap a reading to see when it's used. Why kanji have two kinds of reading: onyomi vs kunyomi.
Common word
外国 がいこく · gaikoku
foreign country
Built from
Tap a part to see the N5 and N4 kanji that use it.
夕 Used in 20 kanji
See all 5 at N5 and N4卜 Used in 33 kanji
See all 4 at N5 and N4Quick check
What does 外 mean?
Right: 外 means outside.Not quite: 外 means outside.In 外国, which reading does 外 use?
Right. 外国 is read がいこく (gaikoku): 外 takes ガイ, its reading from Chinese.Not quite. 外国 is read がいこく (gaikoku): 外 takes ガイ, its reading from Chinese.