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Kanji Detail for 北 - "north, to go north"

北

  • Meaning

    北 means "north, to go north." Also associated with to flee.

    1. North - A cardinal direction.

    2. To go north - To travel northward.

    3. To flee - To run away with one's back to the enemy.

    4. To turn away - To turn one's back.

  • Words using 北

    • 北京 ペキン Listen Beijing (China); Peking
    • 北朝鮮 きたちょうせん Listen North Korea
    • 北海道 ほっかいどう Listen Hokkaido (island, prefectural-level administrative unit)
    • 北方 ほっぽう Listen the north; northward; northern direction
    • 南北 なんぼく Listen north and south; north to south; South Korea and North Korea
    • 東北 とうほく Listen north-east; Tōhoku (northernmost six prefectures of Honshu); Tohoku
    • 北部 ほくぶ Listen northern part; the north (of a region)
    • 北東 ほくとう Listen northeast

  • Four-character idioms with 北

    • 北斗七星 ほくとしちせい Listen the Big Dipper (asterism); the Plough; the Plow
    • 南征北伐 なんせいほくばつ Listen attacking in all directions
    • 南船北馬 なんせんほくば Listen constant travelling; constant traveling; being on the move
    • 東西南北 とうざいなんぼく Listen east, west, south and north
    • 泰山北斗 たいざんほくと Listen great authority; eminent person; luminary

  • Tattoo check: 北

    • Verified meaning: north, to go north
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read きた, きたばしり, すえき, すえしげ)
    • Also carries these associations: to flee

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 北

    Given names 北(きた)Listen

    Surnames 北(きたばしり)Listen 北(すえき)Listen 北(すえしげ)Listen 北(すえやす)Listen 北(ほく)Listen 北(まつき)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    north

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    north; northern; northward

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    north; (classical) to be defeated

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    north; northern; northward

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    A direction name. | To go against. To turn one's back on and oppose. Such as 追奔逐北, meaning pursuing enemies who flee.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    hoku(ホク) ホク

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    kita(きた) きた

  • Strokes

    tip

    5 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    匕 (hi・saji・sajinohi)

  • Related Keywords

    north to go north to flee reject direction pole arctic boreal cardinal compass polar bearing escape

Sentences including 北

  • Have you been to hokkaido?

  • It is not always cold in hokkaido.

  • He has been in hokkaido before.

  • We arrived at a small town in hokkaido.

  • I've been to hokkaido before.

  • He has been to hokkaido.

  • Last summer we went to hokkaido.

  • I am going to hokkaido in the summer.

  • He has gone to hokkaido.

  • They get a great deal of snow in hokkaido.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 匕 (hi・saji・sajinohi)

See all kanji with this radical →

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