今 Kanji: Meaning, Readings and Stroke Order

今: now; present; current. JLPT N5; 4 strokes.

Readings

On readings

コン、キン

Kun readings

いま

Romaji

kon, kin, ima

Study notes

今 means 'now, at present'; when combined with time it indicates 'this' (this month, this time).

On reading: コン in 今度 (こんど, this time; next time), 今回 (こんかい, this time), 今月 (こんげつ, this month), 今週 (こんしゅう, this week), 今晩 (こんばん, this evening), 今夜 (こんや, this night), 今後 (こんご, from now on). キン is rare: it appears in 古今 (こきん, ancient and modern), which also reads as ここん.

Kun reading: いま, 'now': 今すぐ (いますぐ, immediately), 今頃 (いまごろ, at this time), 今にも (いまにも, any moment now), 只今 (ただいま, 'I'm home!'; now).

Special readings: 今日 (きょう, today), 今朝 (けさ, this morning) and 今年 (ことし, this year) are read as whole words. 今日 reads こんにち in the sense of 'these days', and from here comes the greeting こんにちは.

Remember: 今晩 (こんばん) is the origin of the greeting こんばんは (good evening).

Example words

• 今日 (きょう) — today
• 今週 (こんしゅう) — this week
• 今 (いま) — now

Example sentences

今何時ですか。

ima nanji desu ka.

What time is it now?

Stroke order

Follow the steps in order. Each new stroke is highlighted.

Stroke paths: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sequential diagrams derived from the original paths.