Meet 曲 in music and in the movement of a road. Learn each reading with its whole word.

The idea

曲 has six strokes; follow the linked stroke-order diagram. 曲（きょく） means a musical piece, 作曲（さっきょく） means composition, and 曲がる（まがる） means to bend or turn.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
曲きょくmusical piece
作曲さっきょくcomposition
曲がるまがるto turn

Examples

  • 私わたしはこの曲きょくが好すきです。I like this piece.
  • 昨日きのう、新あたらしい曲きょくを聴ききました。I listened to a new piece yesterday.
  • 友達ともだちがこの曲きょくを作曲さっきょくしました。My friend composed this piece.
  • 大学だいがくで作曲さっきょくを勉強べんきょうしています。I am studying composition at university.
  • 次つぎの角かどを右みぎに曲まがってください。Please turn right at the next corner.
  • この道みちは左ひだりに曲まがっています。This road bends to the left.

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

Watch out

Do not read 曲がる as きょくがる. Its reading まがる belongs to the verb, while きょく appears in the music words here.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 曲 (a musical piece) in hiragana.

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    きょく

    曲 is read きょく when it means a musical piece. この曲 means “this piece.”

  2. Write the reading of 作曲 in hiragana.

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    さっきょく

    作曲 is read さっきょく; the small っ marks a consonant pause. It means composing music.

  3. Choose the missing kanji: 次の角を右に＿がってください。［曲／歌］

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    曲

    曲 completes 曲がる, read まがる. The sentence says to turn right at the next corner.

Use it today

Write 曲 using the diagram, cover the table and read 曲 and 作曲. Then make a sentence with 曲がる.