Kanji N3

愛: love, affection, favourite

愛 is a JLPT N3 kanji meaning love, affection, favourite, written with 13 strokes. It is read アイ (on) and いとしい, かなしい, めでる (kun). Children in Japan learn it in grade 4. You will see it in 愛 (あい, love) and 愛情 (あいじょう, love).

愛

Meanings

  • love
  • affection
  • favourite
Strokes13
JLPT levelN3
School gradeGrade 4
Frequency#640 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • アイ

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

Kun reading
  • いとしい
  • かなしい
  • めでる
  • おしむ
  • まな

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 愛

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

  • 愛あい

    love; affection; care

    JLPT N3
  • 愛情あいじょう

    love; affection

    JLPT N3
  • 愛するあいする

    to love

    JLPT N3
  • 可愛いかわいい

    cute; adorable; charming; lovely; pretty

    JLPT N5
  • 恋愛れんあい

    love; romance; tender passion; emotion

    JLPT N1
  • 愛想あいそ

    amiability; friendliness; affability

    JLPT N1
  • 可愛がるかわいがる

    to be affectionate to; to treat tenderly

    JLPT N2
  • 愛憎あいぞう

    love and hate

    JLPT N1

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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.