VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

三月

さんがつ

hepburn sangatsu

March

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

三three

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月moon

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Numbers3 strokes · 2.0s

Numbers4 strokes · 2.7s

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Examples

三月は卒業の月だ。
March is graduation month.
三月三日はひな祭り。
March 3 is the Doll Festival.

Collocations

三月 (sangatsu, March)ひな祭り (hina-matsuri, Dolls Festival on March 3)卒業式 (sotsugyou-shiki, graduation ceremony)桜 (sakura, cherry blossom)ホワイトデー (howaitodee, White Day on March 14)

Mnemonic

Sangatsu (三月) is March — Japans academic and business nendomatsu (fiscal-year-end), plus the start of the sakura cherry-blossom season. Cluster: (1) hina-matsuri (March 3 Dolls Festival praying for girls health, with the seven-tier hina-ningyou display — emperor, empress, three court ladies, five musicians, etc. — diamond-shape hishi-mochi rice cakes and amazake sweet sake); (2) sotsugyou-shiki (graduation ceremonies blanket the country in March, with female students in hakama becoming iconic photos); (3) howaitodee (White Day on March 14, mens reply to Feb-14 Valentines — invented in Japan in 1980, then re-exported to Korea and China); (4) sakura zensen (cherry-blossom front, the JMAs annual northbound bloom forecast). Kanji 三 with on-reading san plus 月 "-gatsu." JLPT N5 plus Marchs cluster of beginnings, endings, partings, and meetings.

Quick check

Country of origin for White Day?