Kanji N1

僧: Buddhist priest, monk

僧 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning Buddhist priest, monk, written with 13 strokes. It is read ソウ (on), and has no common kun reading. It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 僧 (そう, monk) and 小僧 (こぞう, youngster).

僧

Meanings

  • Buddhist priest
  • monk
Strokes13
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1724 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ソウ

On'yomi: from Chinese, written in katakana. Used in compound words.

Kun reading
  • None in common use

Kun'yomi: native Japanese, in hiragana. The faint part is the okurigana, written in kana after the kanji.

Watch the stroke order

Every stroke in order, the live one in vermilion. Replay as often as you like.

12345678910111213

Now draw it

Trace each stroke in order. Wrong direction or wrong order gets flagged right away.

123456789101112130 / 13

Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 13. Start at the dot.

Common words with 僧

The most useful words written with it, easiest first. Every other kanji in them opens its own page.

  • 僧そう

    monk; priest

    JLPT N1
  • 小僧こぞう

    youngster; boy; kid; brat; lad

  • 僧侶そうりょ

    priest; monk; bonze

  • 尼僧にそう

    Buddhist nun

  • 高僧こうそう

    high priest; highly ranked priest

  • 禅僧ぜんそう

    Zen priest

  • 僧院そういん

    monastery; temple

  • 僧堂そうどう

    temple meditation hall or certain other temple structures

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Stroke order from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Readings, meanings and words from KANJIDIC2 and JMdict, names from JMnedict, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata, CC0. JLPT lists after Jonathan Waller (tanos.co.uk), CC BY.