No. 403 in Japanese
級
"Rank," "level," or "grade."
In a sentence
この試験はとても難しくて、上級者向けです。
This test is very difficult and tailored for advanced learners.
Here, '上級' (Advanced level) describes the proficiency level targeted by the test.
彼は初心者から中級に進みました。
He progressed from novice to intermediate level.
'中級' (Intermediate level) indicates a rank or stage in a hierarchical progression of skill levels.
ファーストクラスは一級の座席と言えます。
First class can be considered top-tier seating.
In this sentence, '一級' (first-class) is used metaphorically to express the highest quality or rank of seating.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “級” in actual Japanese podcasts.
Find “級” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Japanese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into 日本語, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Japanese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).