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Life & fun · November 27, 2024

KW

Kurdle – Wordle Meets Japanese Kanji

Hello HN! I built Kurdle (https://japanesecomplete.com/kurdle.html), a Wordle variant that teaches Japanese kanji through English word patterns. Each day features a new kanji that replaces a vowel in a 5-letter English word. For example, the kanji 人 (meaning "person") might replace the "U" in "HUMAN", showing as "H人MAN". Players learn kanji meanings while solving familiar word puzzles. Features: - Daily puzzles using common kanji from the essential 777 list - Streak tracking to encourage regular practice - "Hacker mode" UI theme (toggle in top right) - Progressive learning -…

In plain words

Kurdle is a daily word puzzle game that teaches Japanese kanji by replacing vowels in 5-letter English words with kanji characters. Players solve familiar Wordle-style puzzles while learning kanji meanings from an essential 777-character list. The game includes streak tracking to encourage consistent practice and features progressive difficulty as players advance. It is built with vanilla JavaScript and targets anyone interested in learning Japanese through gamified wordplay.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hello HN! I built Kurdle (https://japanesecomplete.com/kurdle.html), a Wordle variant that teaches Japanese kanji through English word patterns. Each day features a new kanji that replaces a vowel in a 5-letter English word. For example, the kanji 人 (meaning "person") might replace the "U" in "HUMAN", showing as "H人MAN". Players learn kanji meanings while solving familiar word puzzles. Features: - Daily puzzles using common kanji from the essential 777 list - Streak tracking to encourage regular practice - "Hacker mode" UI theme (toggle in top right) - Progressive learning - starts with basic kanji and builds up Built with vanilla JS/HTML/CSS. No frameworks, no dependencies (except for victory confetti!). This is part of my larger mission to make Japanese learning more approachable through gamification. Would love your feedback on the concept and execution!

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