The kanji 外: meaning, readings and stroke order

外

Meaning: outside
On reading: ガイ gai、ゲ ge
Kun reading: そと soto、ほか hoka、はず（す） hazusu、はず（れる） hazureru
Strokes: 5
Radical: 夕 evening, sunset
Level: Level 2 · grade 2

Stroke order

Meaning in other languages

Vietnamese: bên ngoài (ngoại)
Japanese: そと。
Korean: 밖 (외)
Chinese: 外面

Readings, words and example sentences

ガイ gai · on reading

校こう外がい
outside the school
校こう外がいに出てはいけません。
You must not leave the school grounds.

ゲ ge · on reading

外げ科か
surgery (hospital department)
外げ科かの先生に見てもらいました。
A surgeon examined me.

そと soto · kun reading

外そと
outside
外そとは雪がふっています。
It is snowing outside.

ほか hoka · kun reading · less common

思おもいの外ほか
more than expected
思いの外おもいのほか はやくできました。
It was done sooner than I thought.

はず（す） hazusu · kun reading

外はずす
to take off, to remove
本を読む前にめがねを 外はずします。
I take off my glasses before I read a book.

はず（れる） hazureru · kun reading

外はずれる
to miss, to be wrong
当たると思ったのに 外はずれました。
I thought it would hit, but it missed.

Practise writing 外 in the app

In Dino Kids your child writes 外 with a finger and every stroke is checked, then takes the Level 2 practice test. Free, no ads, no in-app purchases.

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Readings, radicals: Kanjium, KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); strokes: KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); Korean, simplified forms: Unicode Unihan. Meanings, sentences: Dino Kids (CC0). See Licences.