Recognize 行 in everyday Japanese and connect its meanings, go and travel, with whole words in context.

The idea

Compare 行く（いく） and 銀行（ぎんこう） in the table: a character can have different readings in different words. 行 has 6 strokes; follow their order in the linked KanjiVG diagram.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
行くいくgo
銀行ぎんこうbank
旅行りょこうtravel; trip
行っていってgo (te-form)

Examples

  • 来週らいしゅう学校がっこうへ行いきます。I will go to school next week.
  • 駅えきまで歩あるいて行いきます。I walk to the station.
  • いっしょに公園こうえんに行いきませんか。Would you like to go to the park together?
  • 昨日きのう、銀行ぎんこうに行いきました。I went to the bank yesterday.
  • 夏なつに旅行りょこうをします。I travel in summer.
  • 店みせへ行いって、牛乳ぎゅうにゅうを買かいます。I go to the shop and buy milk.

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

Watch out

行く is いく, but its te-form is the irregular 行って（いって）, not いきて. In 銀行 and 旅行, 行 is read こう. Compare 行く and 来る from the speaker’s viewpoint.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 行く in hiragana.

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    いく

    行く is read いく; the complete word means go.

  2. Write the reading of 銀行 in hiragana.

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    ぎんこう

    銀行 is read ぎんこう; the complete word means bank.

  3. Fill in the missing kanji: 旅＿（りょこう）.

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    行

    行 completes 旅行, read りょこう; the complete word means travel; trip.

Use it today

Cover the table and write 行 from memory. Read 行く and 銀行 aloud, then make a sentence and check its meaning against the examples.