JLPT N5 Kanji – 十, too, ten

This is 5 Minute Kanji, and today we are going to go over a drink mixer’s kanji this time, the kanji for ten.

Mnemonic:

I can mix GIn PLUS JUIce with my TEN TOEs.

Onyomi:

ジュウ、ジッ、じゅっ
juu, ji-, ju-

Kunyomi:

とお, と
too, to

Like other kanji you use the onyomi, じゅう to count up. We no longer use the old Japanese counters that end in -つ. You can use the counter 個こ with the onyomi for counting most objects past ten. You can say 十個じゅっこ, for example. とお is used when talking about a length of time, and the shorter と is often used in place names.

Mnemonic Factory

The Kanji character can resemble a plus sign or a crossroad. However, if you want to convey the concept of “ten,” there are alternative mnemonics available. Firstly, you can picture two people engaged in a high-five gesture. Although the lower part of the character is absent, you can imagine them bumping spears, for example. Notably, each hand comprises five fingers, and when combined, you get a total of ten fingers.

For onyomi, you also have a few choices, I used JUIce in the main mnemonic, but you also have JEWels and JEWelry. You can imagine ten JEWels shining.

You are kind of limited for kunyomi mnemonics. TOE is the most obvious because everyone has ten toes. You could also use potaTO or tomaTO. You can imagine a garden with 10 tomaTOEs or PotaTOEs. You could also TOW 10 cars.

Example Words

How about a few example words where this kanji is used?

Onyomi
For onyomi, we have 十じゅう for 10. As I said in earlier videos, 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. The month of October uses the most common reading じゅう, so we would say 十月じゅうがつ.

For 10 people, we say 十人じゅうにん. There is the word for enough – 十分じゅうぶん. The word for crossroad also uses this kanji – 十字路じゅうじろ. It’s also used to talk about teenagers – 十代じゅうだい. The shorter じっ reading is rarely used. It can be used as an alternative reading for ten minutes – 10分じっぷん. It is used in the word for the decimal system – 十進法じっしんほう and not many other places. It probably won’t come up at N5 level, but something to keep in mind.

Kunyomi
The word for a period of ten days is 十日とおか. It can also confusingly be used for the tenth day of the month – 十日とおか.

Story Review

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

I can mix __n ____ ___ce with my ___ ___s.

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

I can mix __n ____ ___ce with my ___ ___s.

Word Review

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

十

十個

十人

十分

十字路

十月

十日

That’s it for the kanji for ten. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. 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.

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