Kanji N1

禅: Zen, silent meditation

禅 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning Zen, silent meditation, written with 13 strokes. It is read ゼン, セン (on) and しずか, ゆずる (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 禅 (ぜん, dhyana) and 禅寺 (ぜんでら, Zen temple).

禅

Meanings

  • Zen
  • silent meditation
Strokes13
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1902 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • ゼン
  • セン

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

Kun reading
  • しずか
  • ゆずる

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.

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 禅

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

  • 禅ぜん

    dhyana (profound meditation)

    JLPT N1
  • 禅寺ぜんでら

    Zen temple

  • 座禅ざぜん

    zazen (seated Zen meditation, usu. in a cross-legged position)

  • 禅宗ぜんしゅう

    Zen (Buddhism)

  • 禅僧ぜんそう

    Zen priest

  • 禅問答ぜんもんどう

    Zen dialogue; Zen questions and answers

  • 禅譲ぜんじょう

    abdication (of a Chinese emperor) in favor of a virtuous successor (as opposed to an heir)

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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; the Spanish meanings they lack, translated by Naraio from their English, are shared under the same licence. Example sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR. JLPT lists after Jonathan Waller (tanos.co.uk), CC BY. Sentences split into words with IPADIC © NAIST and IPA, through Lindera.