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Kotomora

講

lecture, club, association

JLPTN2StatusJōyō · grade 5FrequencyTop 1,000Strokes17

Readings

On'yomi

  • コウ

Kun'yomi

—

Meaning

講 centers on organized spoken exchange: a lecture or talk, and by extension a group that meets for such exchange, like a club or association.

Most common words using 講

20 of 124
  • 講師こうし
    N2

    speaker; lecturer

  • 講座こうざ

    course (e.g. of lectures)

  • 講演こうえん
    N3

    lecture; address; speech

  • 講義こうぎ
    N4

    lecture

  • 講習こうしゅう
    N1

    short course; training

  • 講談社こうだんしゃ

    Kodansha (publisher)

  • 受講じゅこう
    N2

    taking a lecture; attending a class; taking a course

  • 講こう

    (Buddhist) lecture meeting

  • 講ずるこうずる

    to lecture; to read aloud; to give a lecture (on)

  • 開講かいこう

    start of a course; start of lectures

  • 講堂こうどう
    N4

    auditorium; lecture hall

  • 講じるこうじる

    to lecture; to read aloud; to give a lecture (on)

  • 講和こうわ
    N1

    reconciliation (between warring nations); (making of) peace

  • 講話こうわ

    lecture; discourse

  • 講談こうだん

    storytelling (of war chronicles, revenge tales, etc.) with highly dramatic delivery; story

  • 講釈こうしゃく

    explanation (of a text, phrase, etc.); lecture; exposition

  • 講読こうどく
    N1

    reading; translation

  • 休講きゅうこう
    N2

    cancellation (of a lecture, class, etc.)

  • 講評こうひょう

    criticism (by a teacher or coach, with commentary, especially at a poetry reading); review; critique

  • 聴講ちょうこう
    N1

    lecture attendance; auditing

Explore all words using 講 →

Study

Etymology

講 combines 言 (speech) with 冓, which likely contributes the sound and may relate to an old meaning of 'to meet' or 'to construct', suggesting speech that brings people together.

Meaning mnemonic

Words (言) are stacked and arranged like building blocks (冓) to form a lecture. A club or association is where people gather to exchange such structured words.

Reading mnemonic

For コウ, imagine a lecturer using a cone as a megaphone to address the club: cone -> コウ, and the words (言) carry through the cone.