Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

泡: bubbles, foam

Also: suds, froth

JLPT N18 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

氵 carries the meaning · 包 gives the sound

8 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ホウhou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 発泡スチロールはっぽうスチロールstyrofoam; styrene foam
  • 発泡はっぽうfoaming
  • 気泡きほう(air) bubble (esp. in a liquid)
  • 水泡すいほうfoam; bubble

あわawa · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 泡あわbubble; foam; froth
  • 泡盛あわもりawamori

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine three raindrops falling—that's sanzui! Whenever you see these three dots on the left side of a kanji, think of water, liquids, or anything that flows.”
More in the 氵 water story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
氵

Also built on water (氵)

All 125
包

Also built on wrap (包)

泡 takes the 包 family's reading, ホウ (hou).

Also read ホウ

33 kanji share this on'yomiAll 33

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
泡 bubbles · 氵
vs抱 embrace · 扌
泡 has 氵 where 抱 has 扌.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · pào

Same form: 泡 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
泡 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
泡 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin pào most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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