Knock on Wood: Kanji with the Tree Radical (木)

Japanese elementary school students learn the kanji 木, which means “tree” or the material “wood,” in the first grade. They also study 林, which is a “grove” or other smallish accumulation of trees, and 森, which is a “forest.” Picking up the first characters with the “tree” radical is as easy as 一二三 (one, two, three).

Radicals, the key components associated with each kanji, do not always have an immediately obvious relationship with the meaning of the character. Below we take a selective approach, focusing on the most common kanji with the tree radical that also have strong associations with trees, which can make them easier to memorize. Check the lists at the end of the article for pronunciations.

Incidentally, some kanji take on different meanings in combination with others. For example, as the basic 木 stands for “wood,” as one of the classical elements, it appears in the name of the planet Jupiter (木星) and by a complex route came to be part of Thursday (木曜日), too.

Trees, Plants, and Wood

There are many kanji for individual trees. Among the standard 2,136 jōyō kanji are Japan’s famous sakura or cherry trees (桜), as well as the earlier blooming ume or plum trees (梅). Fruity favorites like the nashi pear (梨), peach (桃), mulberry (桑), and persimmon (柿) also feature. Others in the group are the pine (松), horse chestnut (栃), cedar (杉), willow (柳), and the shii (椎), which is sometimes called the chinquapin in English.

Several more kanji are directly associated with trees or plants more generally, such as roots (根) and branches (枝). 植 appears in the verb 植える, meaning “to plant,” and the noun 植物 for “plants.” 果 is commonly seen in the compound 果物 or “fruit,” and carries the meaning “fruit” in other words, including figuratively, as in 結果 or “result.” 樹 basically stands for “tree”; it appears in compounds like 樹液 (sap), 樹脂 (resin), and 樹皮 (bark) (you could remember these by the rough translations “tree liquid,” “tree fat,” and “tree skin”). Other kanji include 朽 or “rot” and 枯 or “wither.”

We can make a third group from the kanji representing things that were commonly made of wood. The kanji 材 can be seen in the word 木材 or “lumber,” but also stands for other kinds of material and resources, including “human resources” (人材) in other contexts. 板 means “plank” or “board,” and carpenters might produce a 橋 (bridge), 柱 (pillar), 机 (desk), 棚 (shelf), and 棺 (coffin).

There are plenty more kanji with the 木 radical, including some that are extremely common, but the semantic connections are not as clear. For memorization purposes, these are the low-hanging fruit that could be easiest to pick up, leaving more time to focus on less memorable characters.

The basics

Kinds of trees

Trees and plants

Wood and wooden things

(Originally written in English. Banner photo: Background image © Pixta.)