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

本 (book) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

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

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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