川
かわ
hepburn kawa
river
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
Examples
- 川で泳ぎました。I swam in the river.
- 日本の川は短いです。Japanese rivers are short.
Collocations
川で泳ぐ (swim in river)川を渡る (cross river)川岸 (kawagishi, riverbank)小川 (ogawa, stream)河 (kawa — alternative kanji)
Mnemonic
川 kawa — "river". Disambiguated from 皮 kawa-skin (batch 7). Kanji visually shows three flowing lines. Alternative 河 kawa is for larger rivers (河川 kasen formal). Japanese rivers are typically short.
Quick check
"Cross a river" — verb?