How many Kanji characters are there?


I have been searching around, but all the sources give completely different
answers ranging from 2,000 to 50,000. So my question is how many Kanji
characters that have ever existed since the dawn of time? Does this include
unofficial characters?




An authoritative classic, the [Kāngxī
dictionary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_dictionary), lists over 47,000
characters. The [Hanyu Da
Zidian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Da_Zidian), a more modern
reference, has over 54,000 characters; the [Dai Kan-Wa
Jiten](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Kan-Wa_jiten), the Japanese
equivalent, has over 50,000. Even more recently, the [Zhōnghuá
Zìhǎi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghua_Zihai) has over 85,000
characters, but apparently many of those are variants.

Of course, such counting is more-or-less academic. In Japan, there are only
2,136 [Jōyō kanji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji) (lit.
commonly-used kanji), which are the ones taught in school, though literate
people usually know more. The equivalent list in Chinese is the [Xiàndài Hànyǔ
Chángyòng
Zìbiǎo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiandai_Hanyu_Changyong_Zibiao), which
has about 3,500 characters.




An authoritative classic, the [Kāngxī
dictionary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_dictionary), lists over 47,000
characters. The [Hanyu Da
Zidian](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Da_Zidian), a more modern
reference, has over 54,000 characters; the [Dai Kan-Wa
Jiten](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Kan-Wa_jiten), the Japanese
equivalent, has over 50,000. Even more recently, the [Zhōnghuá
Zìhǎi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghua_Zihai) has over 85,000
characters, but apparently many of those are variants.

Of course, such counting is more-or-less academic. In Japan, there are only
2,136 [Jōyō kanji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji) (lit.
commonly-used kanji), which are the ones taught in school, though literate
people usually know more. The equivalent list in Chinese is the [Xiàndài Hànyǔ
Chángyòng
Zìbiǎo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiandai_Hanyu_Changyong_Zibiao), which
has about 3,500 characters.

