Kanji N2

爪: claw, nail, talon

爪 is a JLPT N2 kanji meaning claw, nail, talon, written with 4 strokes. It is read ソウ (on) and つめ (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 爪 (つめ, nail) and 爪切り (つめきり, nail clippers).

爪

Meanings

  • claw
  • nail
  • talon
Strokes4
JLPT levelN2
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#2025 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ソウ

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

Kun reading
  • つめ
  • つま-

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.

1234

Now draw it

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

12340 / 4

Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 4. Start at the dot.

Common words with 爪

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

  • 爪つめ

    nail (e.g. fingernail, toenail); claw; talon

    JLPT N2
  • 爪切りつめきり

    nail clippers

  • 爪楊枝つまようじ

    toothpick

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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.