言

Meanings: speech, statement, say, word, expression On Readings: ゲン gen, ゴン gon Kun Readings: い（う） i(u), こと koto Most Used Pronunciation: i(u) JLPT Level: 4 (see all JLPT 4 kanji) Grade: 2 Kanji Part: 言 Stroke Number: 7

Level 4 Completion 96 / 103

Common jukugo
寝言 - ね　ごと ne goto - talking in one's sleep
方言 - ほう　げん hou gen - dialect
言語 - げん　ご gen go - language

Useful Examples
Japanese: 愛していると言って欲しい。
Romaji: ai shite iru to itte hoshii.
English: I want to hear you say you love me.
~te hoshii means 'I want...'

Japanese: 彼がそう言う実際聞いてんだ。
Romaji: kare ga sou iu jissai kiite nda.
Literal: him so-saying actually was hearing
English: I actually heard him say that.

Japanese: 部屋の中の人々は何も言わなかった。
Romaji: heya no naka no hitobito wa nani mo iwanakatta.
English: People in the room didn't say anything.

Japanese: 名前と住所を言ってください。
Romaji: namae to juusho o itte kudasai.
English: Name and address, please.

Japanese: 手短に言うと、君が悪いんだよ。
Romaji: temijika ni iu to, kimi ga warui n da yo.
English: To put it briefly it's your fault.

Japanese: 発言を求められたことを光栄に思います。
Romaji: hatsugen o moto merareta koto o kouei ni omoimasu.
English: I am honored that you should ask me to speak.

Japanese: この野菜は英語で何と言いますか。
Romaji: kono yasai wa eigo de nan to iimasu ka.
English: What do you call this vegetable in English.

Look alike kanji

Notes/Mnemonic
Sound waves coming from a mouth. A lot of 'word' related kanji have this character as part of the kanji - 日記 nikki (diary); 詩 shi (poem); 話 hanashi (a story)

Many example sentences are from the Tanaka Corpus as modified for use with WWWJDIC.