read

About this kanji

The kanji 読 (yomu) primarily means "to read." It is commonly used as a verb, but also appears in various nouns related to reading. For example, 読み (yomi) means "reading," while 読者 (dokusha) refers to a "reader." Another useful compound is 読書 (dokusho), which means "reading books." You might also encounter 積ん読 (tsundoku), a fun term that describes buying books but not getting around to reading them. One thing to note is that the reading of this kanji can change depending on its context, so you'll often see it paired with different sounds in various compounds.

Example sentences

• 毎日、新聞を読む習慣をつけています。

  I have a habit of reading the newspaper every day.

Meanings across languages

English

read

Tiếng Việt

đọc

日本語

よむ

한국어

읽다

中文

阅读

id

membaca

th

อ่าน

es

leer

fr

lire

de

lesen

pt

ler

Common compounds

• 読みよみreading, reading (of a kanji, esp. kun reading), reading (e.g. of a situation)
• 読者どくしゃreader
• 読書どくしょreading (books)
• 積ん読つんどくbuying books and not reading them, stockpiling books, tsundoku
• 愛読あいどくreading with pleasure
• 音読おんどくreading aloud, reading (a kanji) by its Chinese-derived pronunciation
• 解読かいどくdeciphering, decoding
• 購読こうどくbuying and reading (book, magazine, etc.), subscribing (incl. free subscriptions), taking (e.g. newspaper)