Back to dictionary
JLPT N416画 · 16 strokesradical 革freq #1200

shoes, footwear

On'yomi (音読み)

Kun'yomi (訓読み)

  • くつ
  • はきもの

Mnemonic

Imagine a shoe made of leather with a mouth on it, eagerly trying to speak and convince you to wear it on your feet.

About this kanji

The kanji 靴 (くつ) means "shoes" or "footwear" in Japanese. It is typically used as a noun, referring to different types of footwear. You might encounter it in compounds like 靴下 (くつした), which means "socks"; 運動靴 (うんどうぐつ), meaning "sneakers" or "sport shoes"; and 革靴 (かわぐつ), which translates to "leather shoes." These compounds illustrate how 靴 is commonly associated with various types of footgear. A quick note: in casual conversation, you might also hear the Japanese term はきもの, often used to refer generally to any kind of footwear.

Built from

Example sentences

  • 新しい靴を買いました。

    I bought new shoes.

Meanings across languages

English
shoes, footwear
Tiếng Việt
giày, footwear
日本語
靴, くつ
한국어
신발
中文
id
sepatu
th
รองเท้า
es
zapatos
fr
chaussures
de
Schuhe
pt
sapatos

Common compounds

  • 靴下くつしたsocks
  • 運動靴うんどうぐつsneakers, training shoes
  • 革靴かわぐつleather shoes

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.