Meaning
十 means ten. With just two strokes, it is one of the first kanji Japanese schoolchildren learn — and one of the most useful. You will find it in clock times, calendar dates, prices, and counters from the very first day of studying Japanese.
The character traces back to ancient Chinese pictography: a cross shape representing a complete count. Ten fingers, two hands, one finished cycle. The vertical stroke reaches up and down; the horizontal bar crosses through it to mark the end. Simple, memorable, exact.
Stroke order: horizontal first (left to right), then vertical (top to bottom). 十 also functions as its own radical (十部, じゅうぶ), forming the base of kanji like 千 (thousand), 午 (noon), and 古 (old).
Knowing 十 immediately opens up the teens and tens: 十一 (11), 二十 (20), 三十 (30), and beyond. One character, a large slice of everyday numbers.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
十 has three on'yomi: ジュウ, ジッ, and ジュッ. All three appear in compound words and Sino-Japanese counting.
ジュウ is the default reading, pairing with consonant-initial sounds and general number expressions:
- 十月 (jūgatsu) — October (the tenth month)
- 十年 (jūnen) — ten years
- 十分 (jūbun) — sufficient, enough; also 十分 (jippun) — ten minutes
ジッ and ジュッ are phonetic variants used before certain sounds. In modern everyday speech, ジュッ is increasingly preferred:
- 十本 (jippon / juppon) — ten long objects (bottles, pens, etc.)
- 十冊 (jissatsu / jussatsu) — ten bound books
- 十個 (jikko / jukko) — ten small items
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
The native readings are とお and と, used in traditional Japanese counting (hitotsu, futatsu... style) rather than Sino-Japanese numbers.
とお stands alone as the native word for ten:
- 十 (tō) — ten (native Japanese count)
- 十日 (tōka) — the tenth day of the month; ten days
と survives in a few native compound words:
- 十重 (toe) — tenfold, ten layers (literary/poetic usage)
Common Words & Compounds
十 turns up across many categories of everyday Japanese vocabulary.
Numbers and Counting
- 十 (jū) — ten
- 十一 (jūichi) — eleven
- 十二 (jūni) — twelve
- 二十 (nijū) — twenty
- 三十 (sanjū) — thirty
Time and Dates
- 十時 (jūji) — ten o'clock
- 十分 (jippun) — ten minutes
- 十月 (jūgatsu) — October
- 十日 (tōka) — tenth day / ten days
- 十年 (jūnen) — ten years; a decade
Qualitative Expressions
- 十分 (jūbun) — sufficient, enough, fully
- 十全 (jūzen) — perfection, completeness
- 十字 (jūji) — cross shape
- 十字路 (jūjiro) — crossroads, intersection
- 十人十色 (jūnin toiro) — to each their own (lit. ten people, ten colors)
Example Sentences
今、十時です。
Ima, jūji desu.
It is ten o'clock now.
私は十歳です。
Watashi wa jussai desu.
I am ten years old.
十日に会議があります。
Tōka ni kaigi ga arimasu.
There is a meeting on the tenth.
十分だけ待ってください。
Jippun dake matte kudasai.
Please wait just ten minutes.
彼女は十か国語を話せます。
Kanojo wa jūkakokugo wo hanasemasu.
She can speak ten languages.
十月は秋です。
Jūgatsu wa aki desu.
October is autumn.
この仕事は十分な準備が必要です。
Kono shigoto wa jūbun na junbi ga hitsuyō desu.
This job requires sufficient preparation.
交差点は十字路になっています。
Kōsaten wa jūjiro ni natte imasu.
The intersection forms a crossroads.
十人十色と言いますね。
Jūnin toiro to iimasu ne.
As they say, everyone has their own taste (lit. ten people, ten colors).
Related Kanji
- 三 — Three (Kanji N5)
- 七 — Seven (Kanji N5)
- 気 — Spirit, Energy, Air (Kanji N5)
- 百 — Hundred (Kanji N5)
- 二 — Two (Kanji N5)
- 千 — Thousand (Kanji N5)
Memory Tip
十 looks exactly like a plus sign (+). Hold up both hands — five fingers on the left, five on the right. Bring them together and they cross. That crossing motion is 十: two strokes, ten fingers, one complete count.
The word 十字路 (jūjiro, crossroads) makes it stick. Wherever two roads meet at a right angle, 十 is right there in the name. Shape and meaning, the same thing.