Onyomi: コウ · Kunyomi: かた.い · Meanings: hard, stiff
Kanji for hard, stiff
Fast lookup with examples and clean stroke-order visualization.
Experience 硬 in 3D! View the complete 3D Kanji model to understand its shape and stroke depth from every angle. Click the button below to see 硬 in 3D and explore how each stroke forms this character.
Please support us by sharing!
硬 is made from the stone radical 石 on the left, which represents rock or something solid. On the right is 更, which can mean to change or renew. When something is like stone and does not easily change, it feels firm and unyielding. Because of this idea of stone-like resistance, 硬 came to mean hard or stiff.
硬 is like stone that refuses to change — hard and stiff.
Imagine trying to bend a big rock 石. It won’t change or move at all. That unbending hardness is 硬.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 硬 | こう | hardness | Noun |
| 硬貨 | こうか | coin | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 硬い | かたい | hard, solid, tough | common JLPT-N4 JLPT-N3 JLPT-N2 I-adjective (keiyoushi) |
| 硬直 | こうちょく | stiffening, rigidity, rigor, stiffness, ossification, petrification | common Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 硬度 | こうど | hardness, solidity | Noun |
| 硬水 | こうすい | hard water | Noun |
| 硬木 | こうぼく | hardwood | Noun |
| 硬さ | かたさ | firmness, hardness, stiffness, honesty | common Noun |
| 硬化 | こうか | hardening, vulcanization, vulcanisation, sclerosis, curing | common Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 梗塞 | こうそく | stoppage, blocking | common Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |