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Kanji quizzes for the joy of reading

Common four-character idioms

How do you read 七転八起 in Japanese?
Rise again after a setback.

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QUESTION 111Difficulty ★★☆

How do you read this in Japanese?

七転八起

Think of your answer before you look.

HINTShow hint

Recovering and persisting despite repeated failures. The phrase contains two numbers.

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.

  • kanji with 車 beside 云

  • kanji with 己 beside 走

  • Japanese four-character idiom with 七 八 falling and rising

These searches describe visual similarities, not formal radicals or character components.

七: 2 strokes; radical 一 (one). 転: 11 strokes; radical 車 (vehicle). 八: 2 strokes; radical 八 (eight). 起: 10 strokes; radical 走 (run). Visual search descriptions are distinct from dictionary radical classifications.

七2 strokes / radical: 一 (one)

転11 strokes / radical: 車 (vehicle)

八2 strokes / radical: 八 (eight)

起10 strokes / radical: 走 (run)

Stroke counts and radicals follow the Japanese dictionary Kanjipedia; other dictionaries may differ.

Kanjipedia「七」 ／ Kanjipedia「転」 ／ Kanjipedia「八」 ／ Kanjipedia「起」

ANSWERShow answerHide answer

The answer is

しちてんはっき／ななころびやおき

shichiten hakki / nanakorobi yaoki

七転八起

Understand the meaning

English translationPersevering through repeated setbacks

Recovering after repeated failures and continuing without giving up, likened to getting up again each time one falls.

A potter carefully shapes another bowl at the wheel, with uneven attempts set to one side.
Rise again after a setback.AI-generated illustration

See it in a sentence

形が崩れるたびに作り直し、七転八起の気持ちで陶芸を続けた。

Each time the shape collapsed, I started again and continued pottery with a spirit of perseverance.

A way to remember

Read it shichiten hakki. Nanakorobi yaoki is also recorded, and can be written 七転び八起き.

Sources：Digital Daijisen: 七転八起 (Kotobank) ／ Speech Dictionary of Four-Character Idioms: 七転八起 (imidas)

The explanation draws on the sources below. Examples were written for this page.

Explore the word further

Describe what changed after the setback

Use 七転八起の精神で挑む. Explain what was adjusted before trying again to show the effort behind the persistence.

例：七転八起で試作を重ね、最後には倒れにくい本立てができた。

After persevering through repeated prototypes, I finally made a bookend that did not topple easily.

The numbers are not a literal tally

The expression does not report an exact failure count. It describes repeatedly recovering, so the actual number of setbacks need not be seven.

References for this explanation：Digital Daijisen: 七転八起 (Kotobank) ／ Speech Dictionary of Four-Character Idioms: 七転八起 (imidas)

Explanation checked on 2026-11-02. Additional examples were written by DuraRing for this page.

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shinnyo radical 11 stroke kanji

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kanji with two 火 stacked vertically

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