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One of the best Japanese Kanji dictionary.
The kanji most commonly used for "Noodles" is 麺.
麺
noodles, flour
Onyomi: ben, men Kunyomi: mugiko 16 strokes Jōyō
麺 (men) is the character for noodles — the men of ramen (ラーメン), and the second character of 素麺 (sōmen, fine summer noodles). Its left half is 麦, wheat, which is the whole story: the character originally meant wheat flour, and came to mean the things made from it.
Japanese menus lean on it constantly: 麺類 is “noodle dishes” as a category, 太麺 thick noodles, 細麺 thin. Two famous noodles do without it — 蕎麦 (soba) leads with 蕎, the buckwheat plant, and うどん (udon) is normally written in kana, its kanji 饂飩 being nearly extinct.
麺 itself is a Jōyō character, plain and appetising, with no meaning beyond the food.
麺 means noodles and nothing else — a Japanese reader will assume you really, really like ramen. There is no hidden sense to worry about; the only question is whether you want a food word in permanent ink.
What is Onyomi?
Onyomi, also known as the "Sino-Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is derived from the original Chinese pronunciation.
What is Kunyomi?
Kunyomi, also known as the "native Japanese reading," is one of the two main reading systems for kanji characters in Japanese. It refers to the reading of a kanji character that is based on the native Japanese pronunciation. Kunyomi readings are often used when a kanji character stands alone or is followed by hiragana, as in verbs and adjectives. Mastering both kunyomi and onyomi is crucial for understanding and using kanji effectively in the Japanese language.
What is Radical?
A radical, also known as "bushu" in Japanese, is a fundamental component of kanji characters. Radicals are the building blocks of kanji and are used to categorize and organize them in dictionaries. There are 214 traditional radicals, each with its own meaning, which often provides a clue to the meaning of the kanji character it forms.
What is strokes?
Stroke count, or "kakusuu" in Japanese, refers to the number of individual brushstrokes required to write a kanji character. Each kanji has a specific stroke order and stroke count, which are essential for writing the character correctly and legibly. Understanding and following the correct stroke order not only ensures proper balance and aesthetics but also makes writing more efficient and fluid.