Meet 客 in a home, a shop and public transport. Learn each reading with a whole word.

The idea

客 has nine strokes; follow the linked diagram. 客 is read きゃく, as in お客さん, 客間（きゃくま）, 乗客（じょうきゃく） and 観客（かんきゃく）. The surrounding word tells you what kind of person is meant.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
客きゃくguest
お客さんおきゃくさんcustomer or guest
客間きゃくまguest room
乗客じょうきゃくpassenger
観客かんきゃくspectator

Examples

  • 昨日きのう、家いえに客きゃくが来きました。A guest came to our house yesterday.
  • 今日きょうは店みせにお客きゃくさんがたくさんいます。The shop has many customers today.
  • お客きゃくさんは客間きゃくまで待まっています。The guests are waiting in the guest room.
  • 乗客じょうきゃくがバスから降おりました。A passenger got off the bus.
  • コンサートには観客かんきゃくがたくさんいました。There were many spectators at the concert.
  • 海外かいがいからのお客きゃくさんを迎むかえました。We welcomed a guest from overseas.

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

Watch out

お客さん can mean a guest or a customer depending on the setting. 乗客 is a passenger, while 観客 is an audience member. Do not confuse 客 with 各: 客 has a roof.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 客 in hiragana.

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    きゃく

    客 is きゃく; it can mean a guest, as in a visitor to a house.

  2. Write the reading of 乗客 in hiragana.

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    じょうきゃく

    乗客 is じょうきゃく: a passenger riding a vehicle.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: 観＿（かんきゃく）［客／各］.

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    客

    客 completes 観客（かんきゃく）, meaning spectators or an audience.

Use it today

Write 客 using the diagram, cover the table and read 乗客 and 観客 aloud. Then make a sentence about a guest or customer.