試験
しけん
hepburn shiken
examination, test
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
試test
Show part origins
驗verification
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Show stroke order animation
13 strokes · 9.0s
18 strokes · 12.5s
Examples
- 明日、日本語の試験があります。I have a Japanese exam tomorrow.
- 試験に合格しました。I passed the exam.
Collocations
試験 (shiken, exam)入学試験 (nyuugaku shiken, entrance exam)試験を受ける (shiken wo ukeru, take an exam)合格 (goukaku, pass)不合格 (fugoukaku, fail)
Mnemonic
試験 shiken — kanji "to try (試) + to test/verify (験)" = "trying to verify". Same kanji as Korean siheom. Japan's exam culture compresses into 受験戦争 (juken sensou, "exam war"), with a whole vocabulary ecosystem: 浪人 (rounin, a student between attempts), 予備校 (yobikou, cram school), 偏差値 (hensachi, deviation score used for ranking). Even JLPT (日本語能力試験) shares the kanji. The verb form 試す (tamesu, to try out) keeps the same root.
Quick check
Meaning of 浪人 in Japanese exam culture?