Kanji 来

音読おんよみ: ライ

訓読くんよみ:・きた・きた

画数かくすう: 7

部首ぶしゅ: き(木)

Meaning

Come / Arrive / Next / Upcoming

  • Basic forms
  • 来る(くる)— to come / base form
  • 来ます(きます)— polite / I come / masu form
  • 来た(きた)— past / came / ta form
  • 来て(きて)— te-form / come (and …) / linking or request
  • 来ない(こない)— negative / don’t come / negative form
  • 来れば(くれば)— if (someone) comes / conditional
  • 来い(こい)— come! / imperative
  • Other common forms
  • 来たい(きたい)— want to come / 〜たい form
  • 来られる(こられる)— can come / be able to come / potential
  • 来なかった(こなかった)— didn’t come / past negative
  • More
  • 来よう(こよう)— let’s come / 〜よう form
  • 来ている(きている)— coming / has come / progressive / state

来る (くる) is an irregular verb — one of only two major irregular verbs in Japanese (the other is する). Its stem changes between く, き, こ depending on the form. Common examples include: 友だちが来る — “A friend comes.” 明日来てください — “Please come tomorrow.”

  • 来週らいしゅう — next week
  • 未来みらい — future
  • 来日らいにち — coming to Japan
  • 以来いらい — since; ever since
  • 往来おうらい — traffic; coming and going
More examples - tap to expand
  • 元来がんらい — originally; inherently
  • 従来じゅうらい — up to now; conventional
  • 本来ほんらい — originally; fundamentally
  • 由来ゆらい — origin; source
  • 来客らいきゃく — visitor; guest
  • 来世らいせ — the next world; afterlife
Compound Verbs - tap to expand
  • る — to come out; to appear
  • かえってる — to come back; to return
  • れてる — to bring (someone) along
  • ってる — to bring (something)
  • がる — to be finished; to be ready

The traditional form of this kanji (來) shows wheat growing upward. It was borrowed for its meaning "to come." The simplified version 来 is used in modern Japanese. It appears frequently in both time-related and motion-related words.

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