水
水 — Water
water
On’yomiスイ (sui)
Kun’yomiみず (mizu)
Kun’yomiみず- (mizu)
Stroke order (4 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 水
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 水 | みず mizu | water (esp. cool or cold); fluid (esp. in an animal tissue); liquid |
| 水準 | すいじゅん suijun | level; standard; water level |
| 水道 | すいどう suidou | water supply; water service; waterworks |
| 水面 | すいめん suimen | water's surface |
| 水泳 | すいえい suiei | swimming |
| 水田 | すいでん suiden | (water-filled) paddy field |
Study notes
水 is a JLPT N5 kanji written with 4 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 1), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #223 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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