JLPT N5 Kanji – 金 – kin, kon, kane

This is 5-Minute Kanji, and today, we will go over a valuable kanji: the kanji for gold and money.

Mnemonic:

The KING has a CANE made of GOLD, which he uses to enter a tent with a CONE-shaped roof.

Onyomi:

キン、コン
kin, kon

Kunyomi:

かね
kane

The kanji 金 is one of the most useful kanji you’ll learn. It means gold, metal, and money – all related to valuable materials. Visually, it shows a person standing under a roof with two nuggets or ingots beside them, representing precious metals stored safely. The two lines on top can represent a mountain of gold behind the person. You’ll see both the キン and コン readings frequently, with キン being more common. The かね reading is also very commonly used, especially when referring to money in everyday conversation.

Mnemonic Factory

Visually, this kanji looks like a person standing under a roof or tent, with two small objects (gold nuggets or coins) on either side. You can imagine it as a treasure chest with a person guarding it, or someone standing in a tent counting their gold.

We have the キン sound for the primary onyomi. The English word KING immediately comes to mind, and kings are always associated with gold and wealth. You can also use KIN (as in “next of kin”), or even munchKIN. You can imagine a group of GOLDen munchKINs.

For the コン reading, you have fewer common English words, but CONE works well. Imagine a CONE made of pure GOLD, or an ice cream CONE filled with gold coins instead of ice cream.
You can also combine the two readings with KING KONG. You could visualize a golden CONE-shaped roof on a palace.

For the kunyomi reading かね, you’ll need to get creative. You can use CANe (cane), as in a walking cane made of gold. Another option is CANEda (as in Canada, the country). The most direct mnemonic is to think “I CANE (can) buy anything with GOLD/MONEY!” or imagine a golden field of oats in CANEda.

So, maybe an alternative mnemonic might be imagining KING KONG standing in front of a mountain of gold with arms stretched out, holding two CANEs that point towards his feet.

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 金:

• 金（きん） “gold (the metal)”
• 金曜日（きんようび） “Friday”
• 料金（りょうきん） “fee, charge”*
• 金メダル（きんメダル） “gold medal”*
• 現金（げんきん） “cash”*
• 金色（きんいろ） “golden color”*
• 金魚（きんぎょ） “goldfish”*
• 金額（きんがく） “amount of money”*

*Not on the N5

You will most likely see 金 and 金曜日 on the N5 test. Friday literally means “gold day” in Japanese, which comes from the association with the planet Venus (the golden planet) in Asian astronomy.

Kunyomi

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

• 金（かね） “money”
• お金（おかね） “money (polite)”
• 金持ち（かねもち） “rich person”*

*Not on the N5

The かね reading is extremely common in everyday Japanese. When people talk about money in daily conversation, they’ll usually say お金 (おかね). The お prefix makes it more polite, which is typical when discussing money in Japanese culture.

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.

The ____ has a ____ made of ____, which he uses to enter a tent with a ____-shaped roof.

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

The ____ has a ____ made of ____, which he uses to enter a tent with a ____-shaped roof.

Word Review

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

金

金曜日

金

お金

料金*

現金*

金持ち*

*Not N5 Word

That’s it for the kanji for gold and money. 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.