Kanji N1

卑: lowly, base, vile

卑 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning lowly, base, vile, written with 9 strokes. It is read ヒ (on) and いやしい, いやしむ, いやしめる (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 卑しい (いやしい, lowborn) and 卑怯 (ひきょう, cowardly).

卑

Meanings

  • lowly
  • base
  • vile
  • vulgar
  • despise
Strokes9
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#2003 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ヒ

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

Kun reading
  • いやしい
  • いやしむ
  • いやしめる

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.

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Now draw it

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

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Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 9. Start at the dot.

Common words with 卑

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

  • 卑しいいやしい

    lowborn; humble; lowly

    JLPT N1
  • 卑怯ひきょう

    cowardly; craven

    JLPT N2
  • 卑劣ひれつ

    mean; contemptible; despicable; dirty; foul

  • 卑屈ひくつ

    servile; subservient; obsequious; slavish

  • 男尊女卑だんそんじょひ

    male domination of women; male chauvinism

  • 卑下ひげ

    self-abasement; self-depreciation; humility

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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.