# 北 — North

Frequency rank 362 / 2,608 in published Japanese.

Frequent enough that you will keep running into it once you read past headlines.

More common than 医 (Medicine), less common than 例 (Example).

- On’yomi: ほく
- Kun’yomi: きた
- Radical: 匕 Spoon (Kangxi 21)
- Frequency path: Level III of XX
- School grade: 2
- Strokes: 5

The character 北 (north) looks like two people sitting back to back, turning away from each other — fleeing from the cold north wind.

In words:

- 北 きた — north
- 北極 ほっきょく — North Pole
- 南北 なんぼく — south and north

[Study 北](https://app.kanjidrift.com/study?kanji=%E5%8C%97)

[← Rank 361: 例 (Example)](https://kanjidrift.com/frequency/例.md) · [Rank 363: 医 (Medicine) →](https://kanjidrift.com/frequency/医.md)

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