Kanji N1

臭: stinking, ill-smelling, suspicious looking

臭 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning stinking, ill-smelling, suspicious looking, written with 9 strokes. It is read シュウ (on) and くさい, におう, におい (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 臭い (くさい, stinking) and 面倒臭い (めんどうくさい, bothersome).

臭

Meanings

  • stinking
  • ill-smelling
  • suspicious looking
  • odor
  • savor
  • fragrance
  • be fragrant
  • stink
  • glow
  • be bright
Strokes9
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1760 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
  • くさい
  • -くさい
  • におう
  • におい

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.

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Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 9. Start at the dot.

Common words with 臭

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

  • 臭いくさい

    stinking; smelly

    JLPT N3
  • 面倒臭いめんどうくさい

    bothersome; tiresome; bother to do

    JLPT N2
  • 生臭いなまぐさい

    smelling of fish; fishy; smelling of blood

    JLPT N1
  • 悪臭あくしゅう

    bad smell; foul smell; offensive odor; stench

  • 臭気しゅうき

    bad smell; stink

  • 水臭いみずくさい

    stand-offish; distant; not frank; reserved

  • 古臭いふるくさい

    stale; old fashioned; hackneyed; trite

  • 口臭こうしゅう

    bad breath; halitosis

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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.