Meaning
粉 means flour, powder, or fine particles — anything ground until it loses its original solid form. Wheat becomes baking flour. Medicine becomes a dissolving dust. Flowers shed pollen into spring air. The same kanji covers all of it.
The structure makes sense at a glance: 米 (rice, grain) on the left, 分 (to divide) on the right. Grain divided until nothing solid remains. Few kanji explain themselves so directly.
粉 turns up across everyday Japanese life — cooking (小麦粉 for bread, 片栗粉 to thicken sauces), nature (花粉 during hay fever season), medicine (粉薬 dissolved in water), and industry (粉砕 for crushing stone or ore). Ten strokes, the 米 radical, Grade 4 of Japanese elementary school.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
The on'yomi is フン, drawn from Chinese pronunciation. It appears in formal and technical vocabulary — chemistry, medicine, industrial processes, and even accounting (粉飾決算, falsified financial statements).
- 粉末 (funmatsu) — powder, powdered form; used in chemistry, medicine, and cooking to describe any substance reduced to fine particles
- 粉砕 (funsai) — crushing, pulverization; used literally (grinding ore) and figuratively (demolishing an argument)
- 花粉 (kafun) — pollen; one of the most frequently encountered フン-reading words, especially during Japan's spring allergy season
- 粉飾 (funshoku) — window dressing, embellishment; most often seen in 粉飾決算 (accounting fraud)
- 製粉 (seifun) — milling, flour production; the industrial process of grinding grain into flour
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
The kun'yomi readings are こな and こ, both rooted in everyday kitchen Japanese. こな stands alone — say こな and you mean powder or flour in general conversation. こ attaches to the end of compound nouns like 小麦粉 and 片栗粉, completing the word rather than standing independently.
- 粉 (kona) — powder, flour in general; the standalone word for powder in everyday speech
- 粉雪 (konayuki) — powdery snow, fine dry snow; common in winter weather descriptions and beloved by skiers
- 粉ミルク (kona miruku) — powdered milk; a household staple for infants and coffee drinkers alike
- 小麦粉 (komugiko) — wheat flour; the most fundamental cooking ingredient using this reading
- 片栗粉 (katakuriko) — potato starch; used as a thickener in Japanese cooking and for coating fried foods
- 粉薬 (konagusuri) — powdered medicine; taken dissolved in water rather than swallowed as a tablet
Common Words & Compounds
粉 forms a wide range of practical compound words. Here they are by category.
Cooking & Kitchen
- 小麦粉 (komugiko) — wheat flour; the backbone of bread, pasta, and many Japanese dishes
- 片栗粉 (katakuriko) — potato starch; essential for thickening sauces and coating fried foods
- 粉チーズ (kona chīzu) — grated/powdered cheese; sprinkled on pasta and pizza
- 粉砂糖 (konazatō) — powdered sugar, icing sugar; used in baking and dessert decoration
- 粉ミルク (kona miruku) — powdered milk; used for infants and in coffee
- きな粉 (kinako) — roasted soybean flour; a traditional Japanese ingredient used in wagashi sweets
Nature & Weather
- 花粉 (kafun) — pollen; triggers hay fever (花粉症) in millions of Japanese people each spring
- 粉雪 (konayuki) — powdery snow; light, dry, fine-grained snow beloved by skiers
Science & Industry
- 粉末 (funmatsu) — powder; used in chemistry, pharmacy, and manufacturing
- 粉砕 (funsai) — crushing, pulverization; used in mining, industry, and figurative contexts
- 製粉 (seifun) — flour milling; the industrial process of producing flour from grain
Everyday & Miscellaneous
- 粉薬 (konagusuri) — powdered medicine; dissolved in water before drinking
- 粉石鹸 (kona sekken) — powdered laundry detergent
- 粉飾 (funshoku) — embellishment, window dressing; making something look better than it is
Example Sentences
小麦粉を使ってパンを焼きました。
Komugiko wo tsukatte pan wo yakimashita.
I baked bread using wheat flour.
春になると花粉が多くなります。
Haru ni naru to kafun ga ōku narimasu.
When spring arrives, pollen increases.
片栗粉を入れると、スープがとろとろになります。
Katakuriko wo ireru to, sūpu ga torotoro ni narimasu.
Add potato starch and the soup thickens up nicely.
昨日は粉雪が降っていて、とてもきれいでした。
Kinō wa konayuki ga futte ite, totemo kirei deshita.
Powdery snow was falling yesterday — it was beautiful.
この薬は粉薬なので、水に溶かして飲んでください。
Kono kusuri wa konagusuri na node, mizu ni tokashite nonde kudasai.
This medicine comes in powder form — dissolve it in water before drinking.
花粉症のせいで、毎年春がつらいです。
Kafunshō no sei de, maitoshi haru ga tsurai desu.
Hay fever makes every spring miserable for me.
きな粉をまぶした餅は日本の伝統的なお菓子です。
Kinako wo mabushita mochi wa Nihon no dentōteki na okashi desu.
Mochi rolled in roasted soybean flour is a classic Japanese sweet.
その会社は粉飾決算をしていたことが発覚した。
Sono kaisha wa funshoku kessan wo shite ita koto ga hakkaku shita.
It came to light that the company had been falsifying its financial statements.
工場では、大きな機械が岩を粉砕している。
Kōjō de wa, ōkina kikai ga iwa wo funsai shite iru.
At the factory, large machines are crushing rocks to powder.
Memory Tip
Picture grain (米) being split (分) — smaller and smaller — until only fine dust remains. Left side: the raw grain. Right side: the act of dividing. 粉 is what you get at the end. Flour in the kitchen, pollen drifting through spring air, powdery snow on a slope — all things broken down to the finest possible pieces.