Hello everyone, and あけおめ! 
From Wednesday, January 21st to Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, we’re rolling out another new round of additions and level movements to your WaniKani lessons 
. Like before, these changes are designed to improve your studying experience. We’ve taken into account factors like how common a word is, how hard it is to learn, and how easily it can be confused with similar items.
These updates include:
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New additions of radical, kanji, and vocab
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Level movements to improve scaffolding
As always, there’s no downtime, and you don’t need to do anything. Anything you’ve already started stays right where it is.
You’ll find the full list of changes below. This time, we’ve spread out the items across five batches. That’s because if we added or moved them all at once, you might suddenly get a bunch of similar items at the same time, depending on your level. By spacing them out, we hope to reduce confusion and help reinforce the right concepts at the right time.
The reasoning for the updates is explained under each batch.
Thanks for continuing to study with us—we’re looking forward to bringing you lots of useful new content in 2026, and we sincerely hope it will be a fruitful year in your Japanese language journey!
Happy reviewing!
1. Wed, January 21st, 2026 (1 addition and 11 movements) – Published
New Items
- Canine/戌 (radical) - we’re adding to level 13
Level Changes
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Level 13: 実感 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 21
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Level 13: 感心 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 21
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Level 13: 同感 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 20
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Level 13: 五感 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 19
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Level 13: 感動する (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 16
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Level 13: 感想 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 15
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Level 13: 感じ (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 14
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Level 46: 万歳 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 47
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Level 46: 二十歳 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 48
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Level 46: 歳入 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 49
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Level 46: 歳暮 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 50
Content Changes
- The new radical 戌 will be added, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji using this radical will be updated accordingly.
Reasoning:
- The radical Canine/戌 is used in the kanji 感, 減, 威, 滅, 歳, and 蔑. Adding this radical can reduce the number of components in each kanji and simplify the mnemonics, making them easier to remember. Moreover, while 戌 itself will not be added as a kanji, teaching it as “canine” will be beneficial to learners since it is the kanji for the Dog in the Chinese zodiac and occasionally appears in that context in the wild. Along with this change, we’ll reorder the vocabulary with the kanji 感 and 歳 to improve the learning order.
2. Wed, January 28th, 2026 (4 additions and 5 movements) – Published
New Items
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Droopy/垂 (radical) - we’re adding to level 26
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僅 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 33
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僅差 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 33
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妃 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 53
Level Changes
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Level 29: 睡眠薬 (vocab) - we’re moving down to level 28
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Level 33: 垂 (kanji) - we’re moving down to level 26
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Level 33: 垂直 (vocab) - we’re moving down to level 26
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Level 34: Boot/堇 (radical) - we’re moving down to level 33
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Level 49: 皇太子妃 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 50
Content Changes
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The new radical Droopy/垂 will be added, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji using this radical will be updated accordingly. The kanji 垂’s primary meaning will also be changed to “droop” to match better with the new radical and better reflect the kanji’s meaning.
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To go along with the addition of the new vocab 妃, the primary meaning of the kanji 妃 will be changed from “princess” to “royal consort” to better reflect its wider range of possible meanings.
Reasoning:
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The radical Droopy/垂 is used in 垂 and 睡. Currently, 車 is used as the radical for both, but the visual connection is weak. Adding the new radical 垂 (Droopy) will help users remember the right form. It also allows for clearer and more memorable mnemonics that better match the meanings of the kanji. Along with this change, we’ll move the kanji 垂 and the vocab 垂直 and 睡眠薬 for better scaffolding. Kanji 垂 will also have its primary meaning changed to “droop,” which will not only match better with the new radical but also align more closely with the actual meaning of the kanji. “Dangle” will still be taught as an alternate meaning, but will no longer be the primary since many of its English uses fall outside the scope of 垂’s meaning — a child dangling from monkey bars or someone dangling their legs over the edge of something, for example.
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We are adding the kanji 僅 and vocab 僅差. This addition not only teaches the new kanji and vocab but also this helps to consolidate the radical Boot/堇, which isn’t currently a component of any kanji in its unmodified form. (It’s only used in two kanji total, both of which use a modified version of it.) Along with this change, we’ll move down the radical Boot/堇 by one level to appear before the kanji 僅.
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We are adding the vocab 妃 to teach the kun’yomi reading of the kanji 妃. We’ll be adding this at level 53 — several levels above the kanji and all of its on’yomi vocabulary — to reduce confusion when learning the new reading. Along with this addition, 皇太子妃 will also be moved up a level from 49 to 50 to spread out the 妃 vocabulary items slightly.
3. Wed, February 4th, 2026 (7 additions and 4 movements) – Published
New Items
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Broom/帚 (radical) - we’re adding to level 15
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儲 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 33
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儲ける (vocab) - we’re adding to level 33
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金儲け (vocab) - we’re adding to level 34
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唾 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 35
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唾 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 35
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僅か (vocab) - we’re adding to level 35
Level Changes
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Level 12: Someone/者 (radical) - we’re moving down to level 8
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Level 28: 家政婦 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 29
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Level 28: 主婦 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 29
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Level 35: 垂れる (vocab) - we’re moving down to level 28
Content Changes
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The new radical Broom/帚 will be added, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji using this radical will be updated accordingly.
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The radical Someone/者 will be moved down to appear before the kanji 者, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji will be updated accordingly.
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The kanji 婦’s primary meaning will be updated from “wife” to “lady” to better match the kanji’s meaning, as well as how it’s actually used in most vocab words.
Reasoning:
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The radical Broom/帚 is used in 帰, 婦, and 掃. Adding this radical can reduce kanji components and simplify mnemonics, making them easier to remember. Additionally, “broom” is its actual meaning, so it can improve some mnemonics, such as 掃 (Fingers + Broom = Sweep).
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We are moving up the vocab 家政婦 and 主婦 to improve the learning order of the 婦 items.
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We are adding the kanji 儲, and the vocab 儲ける and 金儲け to introduce new common kanji and vocabulary.
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The vocab 垂れる will be moved down to improve the learning order of the 垂 items. It is also being reordered to come before 垂らす, as we believe 垂らす’s nuance will be easier to understand if learners become familiar with 垂れる first.
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We are adding the vocab 僅か to teach the kun’yomi reading of the kanji 僅.
4. Wed, February 11th, 2026 (5 additions and 5 movements) – Published
New Items
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潰 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 35
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潰す (vocab) - we’re adding to level 35
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鞄 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 38
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鞄 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 38
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軟らかい (vocab) - we’re adding to level 53
Level Changes
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Level 34: 貴重 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 35
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Level 34: 貴族 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 35
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Level 34: 貴い (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 36
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Level 34: 貴様 (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 37
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Level 36: Valuable/貴 (radical) - we’re moving down to level 34
Content Changes
- The radical Valuable/貴 will be moved down to appear before the kanji 貴, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji will be updated accordingly.
Reasoning:
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We are adding the kanji 潰, the vocab 潰す, and 軟らかい to introduce new common kanji and vocabulary. Along with this change, we’ll move the radical Valuable/貴 to appear before the kanji 貴, and also reorder the vocabulary with the kanji 貴 to improve scaffolding.
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We already have the kana vocab カバン, but we are also adding its kanji version 鞄 as both versions appear pretty commonly in the real world and are therefore both useful to know.
5. Wed, February 18th, 2026 (7 additions and 4 movements)
New Items
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Outfit/衤 (radical) - we’re adding to level 11
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儲かる (vocab) - we’re adding to level 35
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唾液 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 37
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潰れる (vocab) - we’re adding to level 37
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后 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 52
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蚕 (kanji) - we’re adding to level 57
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蚕 (vocab) - we’re adding to level 57
Level Changes
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Level 20: 被る (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 22
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Level 22: 被害者 (vocab) - we’re moving down to level 21
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Level 33: 垂らす (vocab) - we’re moving down to level 30
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Level 59: 蔑む (vocab) - we’re moving up to level 60
Content Changes
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The new radical Outfit/衤will be added, so the components and mnemonics of the kanji using this radical will be updated accordingly.
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The kanji 被’s primary and alternate meanings will be switched so that “cover” becomes the primary meaning and “incur” becomes the visible alternative. This switch will help to better convey the kanji’s basic meaning, as well as to reduce the negative connotation that “incur” tends to convey in English — a connotation which is not inherent to 被.
Reasoning:
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The radical Outfit/衤 is used in 被, 初, 袖, 補, 複, 裸, and 襟. Currently, spirit (ネ) is used in these kanji, but this is inaccurate.衤 comes from 衣 and has a distinct meaning and stroke pattern. Adding 衤 (Outfit) as a new radical will correct this and align better with traditional radical distinctions. This also helps because many of the kanji using this radical are related to clothing (被, 袖, 襟) or the lack thereof (裸).
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We are adding the kanji 蚕, the vocab 蚕, 儲かる, 唾液, 潰れる, and 后 to introduce new common kanji and vocabulary.
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We are adding the vocab 后 as a counterpart to the vocab 妃. Both vocab words use the reading きさき, but they have different (albeit overlapping) nuances, and adding 后 will help to make those nuances clearer. Additionally, having both will help consolidate the きさき reading, which isn’t used in any other words.
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The vocab 垂らす will be moved down as part of the 垂 item scaffolding. It is included in this batch to give it some space from the other verb in its transitivity pair, 垂れる.
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The vocab 被る will be moved up while the vocab 被害者 will be moved down so that users can become familiar with 被’s on’yomi before moving on to learning its kun’yomi.
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The vocab 蔑む will be moved up a level so that users can become familiar with 蔑’s on’yomi before learning its kun’yomi.
