漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
海: sea, ocean
JLPT N49 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met
氵 carries the meaning · 毎 gives the sound
9 strokes
Two readings, and the words that use each
カイkai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 日本海にほんかいSea of Japan
- 航海こうかいsailing
- 海岸かいがんcoast
- 海外かいがいabroad
- 海水浴かいすいよくsea bathing
うみumi · kun'yomi · on its own
- 海うみsea
- 海辺うみべbeach
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 海老えびshrimp
- 海苔のりsea seed sheet
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)水 water, as 氵 (meaning) + 每 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 海 (rev. 93388184), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Water + 'every' = the water that's everywhere”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
毎
Also built on every (毎)
海 takes the 毎 family's reading, カイ (kai).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side海 sea · 氵
vs悔 repent · 忄In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · hǎi
Same form: 海 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 海 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 海 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin hǎi 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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