Meaning
The kanji 父 means father. Four strokes, taught in Grade 2 — and one of the first family words any learner picks up.
父 started as a pictograph: a hand gripping a stone axe or rod. In early Chinese script, that image stood for male authority — the man who protected and disciplined the household. The form has barely changed since, and the meaning has held for thousands of years.
Its radical is 父 itself, meaning it heads its own category in the kanji classification system.
For Vietnamese learners, the Sino-Vietnamese reading is PHỤ (父). You already know it from phụ thân (father, formal) and phụ mẫu (parents). That shared reading ties the pronunciation and meaning together from day one.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み)
フ (fu) — used in formal compounds and written language, rarely in casual speech.
- 父母 (fubo) — parents; a formal, written term found in official documents and literary texts.
- 父兄 (fukei) — parents and older brothers; used in school contexts to mean "guardians."
- 父権 (fuken) — paternal authority; appears in legal and sociological writing.
Kun'yomi (訓読み)
Two native readings: ちち (chichi) and とう (tou). Both are common, but they work in different situations.
ちち (chichi) is the humble, in-group form. Use it when talking about your own father to someone outside the family — not when addressing him directly. This distinction matters in Japanese social speech.
- 父 (chichi) — (my) father; standard in-group reference.
- 父親 (chichioya) — father as a parental role; slightly more explicit and formal.
- 父の日 (chichi no hi) — Father's Day; the third Sunday of June in Japan.
とう (tou) appears in お父さん and お父ちゃん — the forms you use when speaking directly to your father, or when referring to someone else's father politely.
- お父さん (otousan) — father; the default everyday word most learners use first.
- お父ちゃん (otouchan) — daddy; warm and childlike, often heard from young children.
Common Words & Compounds
Family Terms
- 父 (chichi) — (my) father; humble in-group reference.
- お父さん (otousan) — father; everyday polite/familiar form.
- 父親 (chichioya) — father as a parental role.
- 父母 (fubo) — parents (father and mother); formal written term.
- 祖父 (sofu) — (my) grandfather; humble form. The polite form is お祖父さん (ojiisan).
- 養父 (youfu) — adoptive father.
- 継父 (keifu) — stepfather.
Social & Formal Terms
- 父兄 (fukei) — parents and guardians (school contexts).
- 父権 (fuken) — paternal authority.
- 神父 (shinpu) — Catholic priest; here 父 carries the sense of a spiritual father figure, not a biological one.
Cultural Terms
- 父の日 (chichi no hi) — Father's Day.
- 父上 (chichiue) — (my) honorable father; classical or theatrical usage, rarely heard in modern speech.
Example Sentences
わたしの父は医者です。
Watashi no chichi wa isha desu.
My father is a doctor.
父は毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。
Chichi wa maiasa koohii wo nomimasu.
My father drinks coffee every morning.
お父さん、ただいま！
Otousan, tadaima!
Dad, I'm home!
父と母は今日家にいます。
Chichi to haha wa kyou ie ni imasu.
My father and mother are at home today.
わたしの父は料理が上手です。
Watashi no chichi wa ryouri ga jouzu desu.
My father is good at cooking.
お父さんの誕生日はいつですか。
Otousan no tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka.
When is your father's birthday?
父は毎日電車で会社に行きます。
Chichi wa mainichi densha de kaisha ni ikimasu.
My father commutes to work by train every day.
父の日に、プレゼントをあげました。
Chichi no hi ni, purezento wo agemashita.
I gave a gift on Father's Day.
私の父は週末に釣りをするのが好きです。
Watashi no chichi wa shuumatsu ni tsuri wo suru no ga suki desu.
My father likes to go fishing on weekends.
Related Kanji
- 母 — Mother (Kanji N5)
- 男 — Man, Male (Kanji N5)
- 人 — Person (Kanji N5)
- 目 — Eye (Kanji N5)
- 中 — Middle, Inside (Kanji N5)
- 手 — Hand (Kanji N5)
Memory Tip
Look at the shape of 父: two arms spread wide at the top, two legs planted below. Picture a father lifting his child overhead — arms raised, feet firm on the ground.
The ancient image backs this up. A man gripping an axe, protecting his household. Same character, same idea, unchanged for millennia.
Vietnamese speakers already have a shortcut: PHỤ from phụ thân. The sound links directly to the kanji. Write it four times while saying chichi aloud — at four strokes, it won't take long to stick.