JLPT N5 Kanji – 六, roku, six

This is 5 Minute Kanji, and today we are going to go over a fairly easy kanji this time, the kanji for five.

Mnemonic:

The other day, I’m watching a ROKU and roller play the 6 string, but then my wife MUTSU the channel. Life is so unfair.

Onyomi:

ろく
roku

Kunyomi:

む、む.つ, むっ.つ
mu, mutsu, muttsu

Like the other number kanji, the onyomi is used when counting up in Japanese, while the kunyomi むっつ or sometimes pronounced むつ, without the ちいさい　つ, is used as a generic counter for objects that don’t have a specific counter.

Mnemonic Factory

The kanji looks like a man with a big hat and the two sides of his mustache are sticking out from underneath, which your 6th sense tells you is suspicious. It also looks a little like a rocker playing his six string guitar. Or after a game of volleyball, all 6 players on the team take a shower. Or you can think of it as you take a shower every morning at 6. Or even sweep the floor every night at 6 when the office closes.

To make a mnemonic about the onyomi is fairly easy, you really only have one choice – omething to do with a rock. That could be ROKU music or a beautiful ROKU you found on a hike. The kunyomi could be a challenge though. Not many words use MU. There is the obvious MU that a cow makes. You could also imagine a group of 6 MUTSU or mutts MUing to ROKU music.

Example Words

How about a few examples where these words are used?

Onyomi
For onyomi, we have 六ろく for 6. Again, the kanji itself is rarely used in everyday situations. You will most likely see it on formal documents, awards, or price lists at old fashioned restaurants. Like the other number kanji, the month is the onyomi plus がつ, so to talk about June, we would say 六月ろくがつ. We also have 六人ろくにん for 6 people.

Kunyomi
There is the generic counter 六むっつ, used to count objects that don’t have a counter of their own or you forgot which one to use.

Irregular
Like most of the other number kanji the day of the month is irregular. You would say 六日むいか.

Story Review

Can you remember the story from the beginning? Let’s give it a try, and yell out the words that are missing.

The other day, I’m watching a ____ and roller play the _ string, but then my wife ______ the channel. Life is so unfair.

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

The other day, I’m watching a ____ and roller play the _ string, but then my wife ______ the channel. Life is so unfair.

Word Review

Can you read these? I’ll give you the kanji and please yell out the reading for each word

六月

六人

六

六つ

六日

That’s it for the kanji for six. Be sure to visit the Courses site to download the kanji practice sheet, which will walk you through how to remember this kanji’s reading and help you use it well.

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below. If you’d like to learn more kanji, hit the subscribe button and hit the bell mark to get a notification every time I send out a new video. Also be sure to check out my other 5 Minute Kanji videos.

Head over to the Courses site to download the kanji practice sheet and take a kanji quiz.

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