Kanji quizzes for the joy of reading
How do you read 刹那 in Japanese?
Capture a fleeting instant.
Make the words you meet in books your own, one quiz at a time. Discover Japanese kanji readings, meanings and usage with DuraRing.
Unfamiliar kanji? Scan and look it up.Explore the OCR & AI dictionaryHow do you read this in Japanese?
Think of your answer before you look.
HINTShow hint
An extremely brief moment. Three hiragana beginning with se.
More on radicals and this quiz’s stroke counts
Describe the shapes you see
You do not need to know the radical’s name. Try these searches for this quiz’s characters.
left part of 殺 beside 刂
メ and 木 beside the knife radical
刹 followed by 那 meaning an instant
These searches describe visual similarities, not formal radicals or character components.
刹: 8 strokes; radical 刀 (knife). 那: 7 strokes; radical 邑 (town). Distinguish informal descriptions of the shape from the dictionary radical.
刹8 strokes / radical: 刀 (knife)
那7 strokes / radical: 邑 (town)
Stroke counts and radicals follow the Japanese dictionary Kanjipedia; other dictionaries may differ.
ANSWERShow answerHide answer
The answer is
せつな
setsuna
刹那
Understand the meaning
English translationA fleeting instant
A fleeting instant. It can draw attention to the exact moment something happens.
See it in a sentence
扉が開いた刹那、部屋に光が差し込んだ。At the instant the door opened, light streamed into the room.
A way to remember
刹 is setsu in this word. Learn setsuna as a whole.
Sources：Kanjipedia: 刹那
The explanation draws on the sources below. Examples were written for this page.
Explore the word further
Mark the instant of change
Combining it with an action, as in 振り向いた刹那 or 触れた刹那, focuses on a single instant. It is useful for a sudden transition rather than an extended sequence.
例：水面に葉が触れた刹那、小さな輪が広がり始めた。
The instant the leaf touched the water, a small circle began to spread.
Focus on brevity in ordinary prose
The term has a Buddhist background, but ordinary prose does not require conversion into a precise number of seconds. Read it as a very brief instant to follow the pace of a scene.
References for this explanation：Kanjipedia: 刹那
Explanation checked on 2026-10-25. Additional examples were written by DuraRing for this page.
The answer and explanation stay hidden until you open them.
Read and learn with 
.
Photograph unfamiliar kanji, look them up and save them in the app, linked to your book.A reading app that helps you revisit words in the context of your books.
Capture and look up kanji
Photograph a printed page.Check kanji readings and meanings.
Save words. Connect them to books.
Save readings and meanings with the book and page.Revisit your reading through notes linked to your bookshelf.
① illustrates the capture feature. ② shows actual app screens.