Meaning & readings

hot water, bath, hot spring

On’yomi トウ
Kun’yomi

Origin

This character combines water on the left with a sound hint on the right. The water component (氵) shows this character relates to liquids, and specifically came to mean hot water or a bath. The right side is a sound hint that helps indicate how to pronounce the character—it doesn't contribute to the meaning itself. By pairing the water radical with this phonetic guide, the character effectively conveys both "water" and how it should be read aloud.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

12 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 銭湯 せんとう public bath; bathhouse
  • 湯気 ゆげ steam; vapour
  • 湯治 とうじ hot-spring cure; taking the baths
  • 熱湯 ねっとう boiling water
  • 茶の湯 ちゃのゆ tea ceremony; chanoyu
  • 湯のみ ゆのみ teacup
  • 湯沸かし器 ゆわかしき water heater; water boiler

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
85
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1356 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06E6F