English: salute bow ceremony thanks remuneration	On-Yomi: レイ ライ	Kun-Yomi: あや なり のり ひろし れ

Bushu (Radical) Info: 示 (しめす) – show

Henshall Mnemonic: praying at altar is act of propriety

Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #1185 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N4 Words

• お礼   [おれい]
  (n) thanking; expression of gratitude   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 失礼   [しつれい]
  (adj-na,int,n,vs,exp) (1) discourtesy; impoliteness; (2) Excuse me; Goodbye   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N3 Words

• 礼   [れい]
  (n) expression of gratitude   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 礼儀   [れいぎ]
  (n) manners; courtesy; etiquette   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 無礼   [ぶれい]
  (adj-na,n) impolite; rude   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 朝礼   [ちょうれい]
  (n) morning assembly (company); pep talk   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 祭礼   [さいれい]
  (n) (religious) festival   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 儀礼   [ぎれい]
  (n) etiquette; courtesy   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 非礼   [ひれい]
  (adj-na,n) impoliteness   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 礼金   [れいきん]
  (n) finder's fee; reward; honorarium; "key money"   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 礼状   [れいじょう]
  (n) acknowledgment; letter of thanks   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 礼拝   [れいはい]
  (n,vs) (1) worship (esp. Christian); adoration; divine service   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 礼服   [れいふく]
  (n) ceremonial dress   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 洗礼   [せんれい]
  (n) baptism   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 謝礼   [しゃれい]
  (n) reward; honorarium   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 巡礼   [じゅんれい]
  (n) pilgrimage   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 礼 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC
or download a PDF version of this information sheet

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.