# 玄 — mysterious; black

玄 means “mysterious; black”. It is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 5 strokes. On'yomi: ゲン (gen). Kun'yomi: くろ (kuro).

- Meaning: mysterious; black
- On'yomi: ゲン (gen)
- Kun'yomi: くろ (kuro)
- Strokes: 5
- Level: JLPT N1 · set Colours & light

## How to remember 玄

Parts: 亠 lid · 幺 thread

## Don't confuse it with

[弦](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/bowstring/)

## More in the “Colours & light” set

[彩](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/colouring/) · [丹](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/cinnabar/) · [玄](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/mysterious/) · [紫](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/purple/) · [朱](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/vermilion/) · [紺](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/navy-blue/) · [藍](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/indigo/) · [褐](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/brown/)

---

From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/mysterious/. Last updated 2026-11-01.