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Kanji Detail for 海 - "sea, ocean"

海

  • Meaning

    海 means "sea, ocean." Also associated with vast.

    1. Sea - The ocean; vast body of saltwater.

    2. Ocean - A great expanse of water; the deep.

    3. Vast - Wide and great; immense in scope.

    4. Gathering place - Where many people or things come together.

  • Words using 海

    • 海外 かいがい Listen foreign; abroad; overseas
    • 北海道 ほっかいどう Listen Hokkaido (island, prefectural-level administrative unit)
    • 東海 とうかい Listen Tōkai region (of Honshu; incl. Aichi, Shizuoka, Mie and southern Gifu prefectures); eastern sea; Tōkaidō (Edo-period Edo-Kyoto highway)
    • 海上 かいじょう Listen (on the) sea; surface of the sea
    • 海軍 かいぐん Listen navy; naval force
    • 海岸 かいがん Listen seashore; coast; seaside
    • 海洋 かいよう Listen ocean; sea
    • 掃海 そうかい Listen sweeping the sea for mines; dragging for mines

  • Four-character idioms with 海

    • 一天四海 いってんしかい Listen the world; the universe
    • 人海戦術 じんかいせんじゅつ Listen human wave attack; human wave tactics; throwing people at a problem
    • 四海兄弟 しかいけいてい Listen people in the whole world being all brothers; universal brotherhood
    • 四海同胞 しかいどうほう Listen universal brotherhood
    • 天空海濶 てんくうかいかつ Listen the open sky and the serene sea; as open as the sky and serene as the sea; magnanimous
    • 桑田滄海 そうでんそうかい Listen the world is a scene of constant changes (as a mulberry field changing into a blue sea)

  • Origin of 海

    The water radical 氵 beside 毎, "every" (itself a picture of a woman wearing an ornamented headdress, lending the reading). The sea is the water that takes in every stream.

    How to remember it: The water 氵 that accepts every 毎 river — all streams end in the sea.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 海

    • Verified meaning: sea, ocean
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read あまね, うな, うみ, かい)
    • Also carries these associations: vast

    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 海

    Given names 海(あまね)Listen 海(うな)Listen 海(うみ)Listen 海(かい)Listen 海(しい)Listen 海(しおり)Listen 海(ひろし)Listen 海(まーれ)Listen 海(まあれ)Listen 海(まりん)Listen 海(みう)Listen

    Surnames 海(はい)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    sea; ocean

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    sea, ocean; maritime

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    surname Hai

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    sea, ocean; maritime

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

    Where all rivers converge. Near land it is called 海 (sea); far from land it is called 洋 (ocean). In ancient times, it was said that the four borders of China were all surrounded by sea. Hence, China was called "within the seas" (海內), and foreign lands "beyond the seas" (海外). | In the northwest, large bodies of water are called 海. As in Caspian Sea (裏海), Aral Sea (鹹海). | Things that gather in abundance are also called 海. As in "sea of literature" (文海), "sea of ancient and modern sayings" (古今說海), and the like. | Large bowls are commonly called 海. This expression already existed in Tang times.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    kai(カイ) カイ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    umi(うみ) うみ

  • Strokes

    tip

    9 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    水 氵 氺 (mizu・sanzui・shitamizu)

  • Related Keywords

    sea ocean vast gathering place wide and large beach broad coast coral current deep expansive fish island marine maritime nautical navigation salt ship surf surge swell tide wave

Sentences including 海

  • She stood looking out toward the sea.

  • Do you sometimes go abroad on your holidays?

  • The boat drifted about on the sea.

  • I wish i was always being sent abroad on business like he is.

  • The river flows slowly to the sea.

  • Japan is surrounded by sea.

  • Do you plan to go abroad?

  • Have you been to hokkaido?

  • He rode a horse to the sea.

  • I'd like to get a view of the ocean.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 水 氵 氺 (mizu・sanzui・shitamizu)

See all kanji with this radical →

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