桜
桜 — Cherry
cherry
On’yomiオウ (ou)
On’yomiヨウ (you)
Kun’yomiさくら (sakura)
Stroke order (10 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 桜
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 桜 | さくら sakura | cherry tree; cherry blossom; sakura |
| 桜花 | おうか ouka | cherry blossom |
| 桜ん坊 | さくらんぼ sakuranbo | cherry (fruit; esp. of the sweet cherry, Prunus avium) |
| 山桜 | やまざくら yamazakura | mountain cherry (Cerasus jamasakura) |
| 八重桜 | やえざくら yaezakura | double-flowered cherry tree; double cherry blossoms |
| 夜桜 | よざくら yozakura | cherry blossoms at night |
Study notes
桜 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 10 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 5), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #1237 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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