海 — sea, ocean
うみ
海
sea
Grade 2
Japanese school grade level in which this kanji is taught. Grade 1 is first year of elementary school.
9 strokes
nature
U+6D77
Unicode hex codepoint — a unique identifier for this character in the Unicode standard.
Freq #200
Frequency rank among the ~2,500 most common kanji in Japanese newspapers. Lower number = more common.
Heisig #461
Index in James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" — a popular textbook that teaches kanji through mnemonics and stories.
Meanings
- sea
- ocean
word
うみ umi Kun'yomi Kun'yomi (訓読み) — the native Japanese reading of this kanji. Used when the kanji appears alone or with okurigana (trailing hiragana).
かい kai On'yomi On'yomi (音読み) — the Sino-Japanese reading, derived from Chinese pronunciation. Most commonly used in compound words (jukugo).
Jukujikun Jukujikun Jukujikun (熟字訓) — special readings where the pronunciation applies to the whole compound word rather than individual kanji. The reading cannot be split per character.
Components
Composed of
Phono-semantic compound (形声). 氵 (water) gives the meaning domain. 毎 (mai, every) provides the sound and hints at vastness — the sea is water stretching in every direction.