Meet 暗 in words for darkness and in familiar compounds for memorizing and passwords.

The idea

暗 has 13 strokes; follow the linked diagram. 暗い（くらい） is an i-adjective: 暗くなる means to become dark. In compounds, 暗 is often read あん, as in 暗記 and 暗証番号. Learn each word as a whole.

Patterns to compare
WordReading
暗いくらい
暗闇くらやみ
暗記あんき
暗証番号あんしょうばんごう

Examples

  • 部屋へやは暗くらいです。The room is dark.
  • 道みちが暗くらくなりました。The road became dark.
  • 暗くらい部屋へやで電気でんきをつけました。I turned on a light in the dark room.
  • 暗闇くらやみでは何なにも見みえません。I cannot see anything in the darkness.
  • 暗証番号あんしょうばんごうを入力にゅうりょくしてください。Please enter the password.
  • 詩しを暗記あんきしました。I memorized the poem.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

暗い describes darkness, while 暗記 means memorization and 暗証番号 means a PIN or password; do not translate 暗 literally in every compound. 明 is a different character associated with brightness.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 暗い in hiragana.

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    くらい

    暗い is くらい: 部屋は暗いです means the room is dark. The い belongs to the adjective.

  2. Write the reading of 暗記 in hiragana.

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    あんき

    暗記 is あんき: 詩を暗記しました means I memorized the poem. The compound uses あん.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: ＿証番号（あんしょうばんごう）［暗／明］.

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    暗

    暗 completes 暗証番号, read あんしょうばんごう: it is a password or PIN.

Use it today

Write 暗 using the stroke diagram, then cover the table and read 暗い and 暗記. Make a sentence with one of them.