What kanji is "moto"?

"moto" is written with the kanji 本, meaning "book, present, true, counter for long cylindrical things". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) ほん (hon), kunyomi (native Japanese) もと (moto). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 本?

Write 本 ("book") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 本?

本 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) ほん (hon), kunyomi (native Japanese) もと (moto).

本“book” Kanjimoto / hon

Q: What does the kanji 本 mean?

The kanji 本 (moto) means "book, present, true, counter for long cylindrical things". It is a JLPT N5 character.

JLPT N5

How to write 本

Loading stroke order...

Meaning and readings

Meaning

book, present, true, counter for long cylindrical things

Onyomi (音読み)

ほん hon

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

もと moto

Japanese reading

Practice 本 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

Or get all 82 N5 sheets as one free PDF (downloads to your device)

Example sentences using 本

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

本ほんを読よむのはとてもおもしろい。
Reading books is very interesting.
本 (ほん)
JP#81613bybunbukuEN#322102byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
メアリーは日本語にほんごをゆっくりと話はなしました。
Mary spoke Japanese slowly.
日本語 (にほんご)
JP#194720bybunbukuEN#31893byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
本気ほんきだったのはわかってるよ。
I know it was serious.
本気 (ほんき)
JP#4900308byhuizi99EN#2376031byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project