Back to dictionary
JLPT N513画 · 13 strokesradical 雨grade 2freq #408

electricity, lightning

On'yomi (音読み)

  • デン

Kun'yomi (訓読み)

Mnemonic

Rain (雨) + lightning bolt below — *electricity* is lightning captured.

About this kanji

The kanji 「電」 means electricity or lightning and is primarily used in nouns. It has the on'yomi reading of デン and is often found in various compound words. For example, 電車 (でんしゃ) means "train," which runs on electricity, and 電話 (でんわ) means "telephone," an essential device that transmits voice over electrical signals. This kanji highlights the importance of electricity in our daily lives and can often be seen in contexts related to transport or communication. A key note is that it does not have a common native or kun'yomi reading, making its usage mostly limited to compounds.

Built from

Example sentences

  • 電車が来ました。

    The train has arrived.

Meanings across languages

English
electricity, lightning
Tiếng Việt
điện
日本語
電気, 稲妻
한국어
전기
中文
id
listrik
th
ไฟฟ้า
es
electricidad
fr
électricité
de
Strom
pt
eletricidade

Common compounds

  • 電車でんしゃtrain
  • 電話でんわtelephone

Want to actually learn this kanji?

The dictionary is one view. The Kanji 360 app wraps every character with mnemonic images, audio readings, stroke-order animation, story context, and SRS scheduling — free to start on iPhone, iPad, and Android.