Kanji N1

秀: excel, excellence, beauty

秀 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning excel, excellence, beauty, written with 7 strokes. It is read シュウ (on) and ひいでる (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 優秀 (ゆうしゅう, superior) and 秀作 (しゅうさく, excellent work).

秀

Meanings

  • excel
  • excellence
  • beauty
  • surpass
Strokes7
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#848 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • シュウ

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

Kun reading
  • ひいでる

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.

12345670 / 7

Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 7. Start at the dot.

Common words with 秀

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

  • 優秀ゆうしゅう

    superior; excellent; brilliant; outstanding

    JLPT N3
  • 秀作しゅうさく

    excellent (piece of) work

  • 秀逸しゅういつ

    excellent; superb; first-rate

  • 秀才しゅうさい

    bright person; talented student; prodigy

  • 秀でるひいでる

    to excel; to surpass; to be superior

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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.