who, someone, somebody
On'yomi (音読み)
- スイ
Kun'yomi (訓読み)
- だれ
- たれ
- た
About this kanji
The kanji 誰 means "who" and is often used when asking about a person's identity. It primarily functions as a noun. You'll commonly see it in compounds like 誰か (だれか), which means "someone," and 誰も (だれも), meaning "everyone" or "anyone" in a negative sentence. Another useful compound is 誰でも (だれでも), which translates to "anyone" and can express inclusiveness. A quick usage note: while 誰 can be used in questions, it becomes more formal in writing; for casual conversations, native speakers sometimes prefer simpler expressions.
Example sentences
誰かが私を呼んでいる。
Someone is calling me.
Meanings across languages
- English
- who, someone, somebody
- Tiếng Việt
- ai, người nào, một người
- 日本語
- 誰, 誰か, 誰か
- 한국어
- 누구, 누군가, 아무
- 中文
- 谁, 某人, 有人
- id
- siapa, seseorang
- th
- ใคร, บางคน
- es
- quién, alguien
- fr
- qui, quelqu'un
- de
- wer, jemand
- pt
- quem, alguém
Common compounds
- 誰かだれかsomeone, somebody
- 誰もだれもeveryone, anyone, no one
- 誰でもだれでもanyone, anybody, everyone
- 誰にもだれにもto anyone, to everyone, by anyone
- 誰にでもだれにでもanyone, anybody, everyone
- 誰何すいかchallenging (an unknown person), asking a person's identity
- 誰彼だれかれthis or that person, anybody, many people
- 誰々だれだれso-and-so, who?, which people?
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.