How to Find Out What an Unknown Kanji Means

Short answer: Use a dictionary that lets you search by shape: draw the kanji, pick its radical, count its strokes, or point a camera at it. Then check the meaning against the surrounding words, because many kanji have several meanings and readings.

Option 1: draw it

The fastest method on a phone is handwriting input. Dictionary apps and the keyboard on most phones let you draw the character with your finger. The app suggests matching kanji as you draw. Stroke order matters a little, so if there are no matches, try drawing the strokes in a different order or break the character into parts.

Handwriting input also works in Jisho on the web, which has a drawing box for kanji.

Option 2: radical search

Jisho.org lets you search by radical. You pick one or more radicals from a grid, and it shows kanji containing them. Try picking the most obvious part of the unknown kanji first, such as 氵 (water) or 言 (speech), and then add a second part to narrow the list.

Radical search is slower than drawing, but it works on a computer without a touchscreen and teaches you the parts of kanji as you use it.

Option 3: stroke count

If you can count the strokes, you can filter by number. Combine stroke count with a radical to cut down the results. Counting is error-prone for complex characters, so allow plus or minus one stroke if you get no result.

Traditional kanji dictionaries sort by radical and then by extra strokes, which is the same idea in print.

Option 4: camera translators

Apps with camera translation, such as Google Lens or Apple’s Live Text, can read kanji from a sign, a menu or a book page. They are handy when you cannot type or draw the character. They sometimes misread unusual fonts, handwriting or vertical text, so verify the result in a dictionary.

If you copy the recognized text into Jisho, you can see readings and meanings for each kanji, not just a translated sentence.

Always check the context

A single kanji can have several meanings and readings. 生 can mean ‘life’, ‘raw’ or ‘birth’, depending on the word. Look at the characters around it and read the full word entry. Then check the example sentences. If a compound word appears in the dictionary, trust that entry over the meaning of the single kanji.

• Look up the whole word, not only the single character
• Check the part of speech and example sentences
• Use the reading shown in the dictionary to help you remember

How the app helps

The app we are building is a study tool rather than a lookup dictionary. It teaches kanji by JLPT level from N5 to N1 through picture-story mnemonics, with flashcards and spaced repetition. It is not launched yet.

If you still cannot find the kanji, check whether it is a rare variant or a name kanji. Names often use unusual characters that do not appear in basic dictionaries. In that case, ask in a learner community with a clear photo and some surrounding text, and a native speaker can usually identify it quickly.