Kanji N1

墨: black ink, India ink, ink stick

墨 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning black ink, India ink, ink stick, written with 14 strokes. It is read ボク (on) and すみ (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 墨 (すみ, sumi) and 入れ墨 (いれずみ, tattoo).

墨

Meanings

  • black ink
  • India ink
  • ink stick
  • Mexico
Strokes14
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1616 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ボク

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

Kun reading
  • すみ

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.

1234567891011121314

Now draw it

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

12345678910111213140 / 14

Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 14. Start at the dot.

Common words with 墨

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

  • 墨すみ

    sumi; India ink; Chinese ink; ink stick

    JLPT N2
  • 入れ墨いれずみ

    tattoo (esp. a traditional Japanese one)

  • 水墨画すいぼくが

    India-ink painting; ink wash painting

  • 墨絵すみえ

    ink painting

  • お墨付きおすみつき

    certificate; certified document; authorization

  • 墨書ぼくしょ

    writing in India ink

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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.