海

Alternative forms
In Chinese, the bottom right component is with 2 dots, yielding 海. In Japanese, this component is simplified to (1 cross stroke), yielding 海. Both forms are encoded under the same Unicode codepoint – see.

Glyph origin
.

Etymology
Probably related to ; in numerous Zhou texts 海 is described as 晦. Compare the parallelism in Chinese: <.

STEDT compares to.

Definitions

 * 1) sea; ocean
 * 2) big lake
 * 3)  wide river
 * 4)  big; large
 * 5) overseas; abroad
 * 6)  sea; abundance; infiniteness
 * 7)  profuse; numerous
 * 8)  unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
 * 9) . Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)
 * 1) overseas; abroad
 * 2)  sea; abundance; infiniteness
 * 3)  profuse; numerous
 * 4)  unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
 * 5) . Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)
 * 1)  profuse; numerous
 * 2)  unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
 * 3) . Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)
 * 1)  unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
 * 2) . Hai (mainland China, Taiwan), Hoi (Hong Kong)

Descendants
Others:

Kanji

 * 1) sea, ocean
 * 2) vastly gathered
 * 3) large, wide

Etymology 1
→ * →

From, theorized as descending from.

Has been thought to have been derived from a compound. There are two leading theories regarding the ultimate derivation:
 * Shift from +.
 * This is problematic phonetically because there is no known term having a related shift from →  →  →, and semantically as there already exists a compound.


 * From + . The u- stem is evident in  and, and in the  element in various ancient terms (see below).

Noun

 * 1) a sea, an ocean
 * 2) a lake
 * 3)  an object covering over a large area, as in  or
 * 4)  a mare dark surface of a celestial body, thought to appear like a sea
 * 5)  in a, a reservoir where water is stored
 * 1)  an object covering over a large area, as in  or
 * 2)  a mare dark surface of a celestial body, thought to appear like a sea
 * 3)  in a, a reservoir where water is stored
 * 1)  in a, a reservoir where water is stored

Usage notes

 * This is the most common general term in modern Japanese for ' or '.

Etymology 2
From. Thought to be comprised of +. The u- stem is also evident in and.

First cited to the  of 720.

Prefix

 * 1) of the sea, of the ocean

Etymology 3
From.

Probably related to 🇨🇬; perhaps an ancient Koreanic borrowing into Japanese.

Also read as wada.

Noun

 * 1)  sea, ocean

Etymology 4
Either cognate with, or an abbreviation of umi above.

Noun

 * 1)  sea, ocean

Etymology 5
From.

Affix

 * 1) sea; ocean

Etymology
From.