JLPT N5 Kanji – 日 – nichi, jitsu, hi, bi, ka

This is 5-Minute Kanji, and today, we will go over a skimpy kanji: the kanji for day or sunshine.

Mnemonic:
It always gives me the HEEBEE-jeebies watching Lady KAKA do juJITSU in her bikiNI of CHEese during the SUNrise.

Onyomi:

ニチ、ジツ
nichi, jitsu

Kunyomi:

ひ、び、か
hi, bi, ka

The kanji 日 started off in ancient Chinese looking very much like a sun, However, over the years, the middle dot widened and simplified to make the ‘window pane’-like kanji we have today. The onyomi is used often to mean day or occasion. ジツ is sometimes used in some compounds like 平日, meaning weekday, but this is not an N5 word. Kunyomi is often used in compounds to refer to days of the month (e.g. ３日, みっか, the 3rd) or days of the week (e,g. 月曜日, げつようび, Monday).

Mnemonic Factory

We have another simple, primitive kanji here. It essentially resembles a highly stylized sun. Just remember that the original middle dot has been stylized to be a horizontal line. This makes it look like a window with the sun shining through. It could also be a square sun setting on a lake that is reflecting it.

We have the ニチ sound for the onyomi. NICHE does the job fairly well, but it isn’t very visual. You also have the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who has a similarly sounding name if you are really into 19th-century philosophy. Of course, you can combine two words like I did for the master mnemonic bikiNI of CHEEse or a paniNI with CHEEse if that helps you remember. And don’t forget “ジツ,” which has only a few equivalents in English. JuJITSU, borrowed from Japanese, can help, or you can try the combination of two words like GETS YOU that are similar, but not a great match.

For kunyomi readings, you have the similar sounds of ひ and び, and then か. I used HEEBEE jeebies, which combines the first two. You can also make use of some African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and say “HE BE KAlling …”, so how about this mneonmic – “My old action star buddy can get annoying. HE BE KAlling me every DAY to practice juJITSU. He NEEds to CHIll.”

Example Words

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

Onyomi

Let’s take a look at some of the most common words that use 日:

• 毎日（まいにち） “every day”
• 平日（へいじつ） “weekday”*

*Not on the N5
You will most likely only see 毎日 on the N5 test. However, 平日 can be useful in real life for schedules.

Kunyomi

Let’s take a look at some of the most common words that use 日:

• 月曜日（げつようび） “Monday”**
• ３日（みっか） “the 3rd (day of the month)”
• 日日（ひび） “everyday (life, things)”*

*Not on the N5
**The kanji 曜 is not on the N5, so you might see this written as 月よう日.

Commonly confused with

Story Review

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

It always gives me the ______-jeebies watching Lady ____ do ju_____ in her biki__ of __ese during the ___rise.

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

It always gives me the ______-jeebies watching Lady ____ do ju_____ in her biki__ of __ese during the ___rise.

Word Review

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

毎日

平日*

３日

月曜日

日日*

*Not N5 Word

That’s it for the kanji for sun or day. 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.