What does the kanji 川 mean?

The kanji 川 (kawa) means "river, stream". It is a JLPT N5 character.

What kanji is "kawa"?

"kawa" is written with the kanji 川, meaning "river, stream". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) せん (sen), kunyomi (native Japanese) かわ (kawa). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 川?

Write 川 ("river") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 川?

川 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) せん (sen), kunyomi (native Japanese) かわ (kawa).

川“river” Kanjikawa / sen

JLPT N5

How to write 川

川 (river) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

Meaning and readings

Meaning

river, stream

Onyomi (音読み)

せん sen

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

かわ kawa

Japanese reading

Practice 川 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

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Example sentences using 川

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

ナイル川がわはアフリカにあります。
The Nile is in Africa.
川 (がわ)
JP#11434021bybunbukuEN#9962326byddnktrCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
天気てんきが悪わるくて今年ことしは天の川あまのがわが見みれないわね。
We can't see the Milky Way this year because of the bad weather, huh?
天の川 (あまのがわ)
JP#10156639bysmall_snowEN#10562271byauxittCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
それは川底かわぞこで見みつかった。
It was found at the bottom of the river.
川底 (かわぞこ)
JP#10782263bybunbukuEN#42542byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project

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Read 川 in a story

Short Japanese comics written so that every word in them is JLPT N5. One of them teaches this character — the match is on the words an episode teaches, not every character in its dialogue.