斑 means “spot, speckle, mottled”

はん · han

Also: blemish, speck, patches

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ふ, まだら

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ハン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

A pattern (文) set between two jewels (王 王): picture a stone streaked and spotted with color. 斑 is a spot or patch: 斑点 are spots, 斑 alone reads まだら, mottled, and freckles, そばかす, can be written 雀斑, sparrow spots.

Used in 斑点 (hanten, spot/speck), 斑 (madara, mottled/patchy), and 雀斑 (sobakasu, freckles)

More from Shades & Dyes

• 褐 brown
• 瑠 lapis lazuli
• 璃 lapis lazuli
• 鮮 vivid
• 染 dye
• 彩 color
• 丹 red
• 玄 dark
• 淡 pale
• 朱 vermilion
• 紺 navy blue
• 藍 indigo

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.