N4 kanji · 11 strokes
族 means family, tribe
族
族Real origin
It began as arrows (矢) gathered under one banner: a tribe, a family.
Real origin: where the kanji comes from, as far as scholars agree.
Meaning and readings
- Meanings
- tribe, family
- JLPT level
- N4
- Strokes
- 11
- School grade
- Grade 3 in Japan
From Chinese (onyomi) ゾク zoku
ゾク (zoku) came from Chinese with the character. You mostly hear it in words made of several kanji. Dictionaries call this the on reading.
Tap a reading to see when it's used. Why kanji have two kinds of reading: onyomi vs kunyomi.
Common word
家族 かぞく · kazoku
family
Built from
- 方 direction
- 矢 arrow
Tap a part to see the N5 and N4 kanji that use it.
方 Used in 20 kanji
矢 Used in 21 kanji
See all 4 at N5 and N4Quick check
What does 族 mean?
Right: 族 means family, tribe.Not quite: 族 means family, tribe.In 家族, 族 is read ぞく. Which kind of reading is that?
Right. 家族 is read かぞく (kazoku): 族 takes ゾク, its reading from Chinese. It's the only reading 族 has.Not quite. 家族 is read かぞく (kazoku): 族 takes ゾク, its reading from Chinese. It's the only reading 族 has.