天 Kanji: Meaning, Readings and Stroke Order

天: sky; heaven; god; nature. JLPT N5; 4 strokes.

Readings

On readings

テン

Kun readings

あま-、あめ

Romaji

ten, ama, ame

Study notes

天 means 'sky' and, by extension, 'divine, natural'.

On reading: テン in 天気 (てんき, weather), 天国 (てんごく, paradise), 天才 (てんさい, genius), 天井 (てんじょう, ceiling), 天使 (てんし, angel), 天皇 (てんのう, emperor of Japan).

Kun readings: あめ and あま appear in ancient-origin words: 天の川 (あまのがわ, Milky Way), 天下り (あまくだり, appointment of former high officials to private companies).

Special readings: in 天ぷら (てんぷら, tempura) 天 is used for the sound; the full form is 天麩羅.

Remember: 天気 (てんき) indicates the weather at a certain time; for the typical climate of a place one uses 気候 (きこう).

Example words

• 天気 (てんき) — weather
• 天の川 (あまのがわ) — Milky Way

Example sentences

今日は天気がいいです。

kyou wa tenki ga ii desu.

The weather is nice today.

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.