海

海 U+6D77, 海 ← 浶[U+6D76] CJK Unified Ideographs 浸 →[U+6D78] 海 U+FA45, 海 ← 梅[U+FA44] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 渚 →[U+FA46] 海 U+2F901, 海 ← 派[U+2F900] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 流 →[U+2F902] Japanese 海 Simplified 海 Traditional 海 Stroke order

In Chinese, the bottom right component is 母 with 2 dots, yielding 海. In Japanese shinjitai, this component is simplified to 毋 (1 cross stroke), yielding 海 (氵+毎). Both forms are encoded under the same Unicode codepoint – see Han unification.

海 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+7 in Chinese and Korean, 水+6 in Japanese, 10 strokes in Chinese and Korean, 9 strokes in Japanese, Cangjie input 水人田卜 (EOWY) or 水人田十 (EOWJ), four-corner 38157, composition ⿰氵每(GHTKV or U+FA45) or ⿰氵毎(J or U+2F901))

• 嗨, 𢲨, 𤍃, 𫗀, 𥉪, 𤀇, 𦷫, 𬕧, 𩘫, 塰

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 625, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17450
• Dae Jaweon: page 1023, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1627, character 1
• Unihan data for U+6D77

• Unihan data for U+FA45

• Unihan data for U+2F901

simp. and trad. 海

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *hmlɯːʔ): semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 每 (OC *mɯːʔ).

Probably related to 晦 (OC *hmɯːs, “dark”); in numerous Zhou texts 海 is described as 晦 (Schuessler, 2007). Compare the parallelism in Chinese: 溟 (OC *meːŋ, *meːŋʔ, “ocean”) < 冥 (OC *meːŋ, “dark”).

STEDT compares 海 (OC *hmlɯːʔ) to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *muːŋ ~ r/s-muːk (“foggy; dark; sullen; menacing; thunder”), but the rhymes are incompatible.

Lai reconstructs a new cognate set connecting this word with Bokar simu (“lake”) and Khroskyabs rbó (“pond”). To cover these cognates, something like Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m̥əq would have to be reconstructed.

海

1. sea; ocean 好想去看海。 ― Hǎo xiǎng qù kàn hǎi. ― I really want to go and look at the sea.
2. big lake 洱海 ― Ěrhǎi ― Er Lake 北京的北海 ― Běijīng de Běihǎi ― Beihai Lake, Beijing
3. (Cantonese) wide river, especially the Pearl River
4. (of containers, amount, etc.) big; large 海碗 ― hǎiwǎn ― extra large bowl 海量 ― hǎiliàng ― huge amount 海投 ― hǎi tóu ― to send résumés to many companies; to use shotgun approach in job hunting 海扁 ― hǎi biǎn ― (slang) to beat someone tremendously 海咪咪 ― hǎi mīmī ― (slang) big boobs
5. overseas; abroad 海棗／海枣 ― hǎizǎo ― date palm
6. (figurative) sea; abundance; infiniteness 人海 ― rénhǎi ― huge crowd 火海 ― huǒhǎi ― sea of flames
7. (dialectal, colloquial) profuse; numerous
8. (dialectal, colloquial) unrestrainedly; randomly; casually
9. a surname, Hai (Mainland China, Taiwan) or Hoi (Hong Kong) 海瑞 ― Hǎi Ruì ― Hai Rui (Chinese scholar-official of the Ming dynasty)

Others:

• → Bouyei: haaic
• → Zhuang: haij

• “海”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎[4], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014-

Shinjitai 海 Kyūjitai[1] 海海or海+︀? 海󠄀海+󠄀?(Adobe-Japan1) 海󠄃海+󠄃?(Hanyo-Denshi)(Moji_Joho) The displayed kanji may be different from the image due to your environment.See here for details.

(Second grade kyōiku kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 海)

1. sea, ocean
2. vastly gathered
3. large, wide

• Go-on: かい (kai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: かい (kai, Jōyō)
• Kun: うみ (umi, 海, Jōyō)、わた (wata, 海)、わだ (wada, 海)、うな (una, 海)
• Nanori: あ (a)、あま (ama)、うみ (umi)、うん (un)、え (e)、か (ka)、た (ta)、ひろ (hiro)、ひろし (hiroshi)、ぶ (bu)、まち (machi)、まま (mama)、み (mi)、め (me)、わたる (wataru)

Kanji in this term 海 うみGrade: 2 kun’yomi Alternative spelling 海 (kyūjitai)

⟨umi1⟩ → */umij/ → /umi/

From Old Japanese, theorized as descending from Proto-Japonic *omi.

Has been thought to have been derived from a compound. There are two leading theories regarding the ultimate derivation:

• Shift from 大 (ō-, “big, great”) + 水 (mi, “water”, combining form).[2]

This is problematic phonetically because there is no known term having a related shift from /opo/ → /oː/ → /o/ → /u/, and semantically as there already exists a compound 大水 (ōmizu, “flood”).

• From う (u-, stem indicating “ocean”) + 水 (mi, “water”, combining form). The u- stem is evident in 魚 (uo, “fish”) and 潮 (ushio, “salt water; tide”), and in the 海 (una) element in various ancient terms (see below).[3]

• (Tokyo) うみ [úꜜmì] (Atamadaka – [1])[4][5]
• IPA(key): [ɯ̟mʲi]

海(うみ) • (umi)

1. a sea, an ocean Antonym: 陸 (oka, riku) 海(うみ)の中(なか)にはいろんな生(い)き物(もの)が暮(く)らしています。Umi no naka ni wa ironna ikimono ga kurashiteimasu.There are all sorts of creatures living in the sea. 海(うみ)に行(い)こうよ！Umi ni ikō yo!Let’s go to the beach!
2. a lake Synonym: 湖 (mizuumi)
3. (figurative) an object covering over a large area, as in 血の海 (chi no umi, “pool of blood”) or 火の海 (hi no umi, “sea of fire”)
4. (planetology) a mare (dark surface of a celestial body, thought to appear like a sea)
5. (calligraphy) in a 硯 (suzuri, “inkstone”), a reservoir where water is stored Synonym: 池 (ike)

• This is the most common general term in modern Japanese for sea or ocean.

• 海(うみ)を渡(わた)る (umi o wataru, “cross over the ocean → go to a foreign country”)

海(うみ) • (Umi)

1. a female given name

Kanji in this term 海 うなGrade: 2 kun’yomi Alternative spelling 海 (kyūjitai)

From Old Japanese. Thought to be comprised of う (u-, stem indicating “ocean”) + な (na, ancient alternative form of the possessive particle の (no)).[6] The u- stem is also evident in 魚 (uo, “fish”) and 潮 (ushio, “salt water; tide”).

First cited to the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.[6]

• IPA(key): [ɯ̟na̠]

海(うな) • (una-)

1. of the sea, of the ocean

Kanji in this term 海 わたGrade: 2 kun’yomi Alternative spelling 海 (kyūjitai)

From Old Japanese.

Probably related to Korean 바다 (bada, “ocean, sea”); perhaps an ancient Koreanic borrowing into Japanese.

Also read as wada.[7]

• (Tokyo) わた [wàtá] (Heiban – [0])[7]
• (Tokyo) わた [wàtáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[7]
• IPA(key): [β̞a̠ta̠]

海(わた) • (wata)

1. (obsolete) sea, ocean

Kanji in this term 海 みGrade: 2 kun’yomi Alternative spelling 海 (kyūjitai)

Either cognate with 水 (mi, “water”), or an abbreviation of umi above.

• IPA(key): [mʲi]

海(み) • (mi)

1. (obsolete) sea, ocean

• 温(あつ)海(み) (Atsumi)

Kanji in this term 海 かいGrade: 2 on’yomi Alternative spelling 海 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 海 (MC xojX).

• IPA(key): [ka̠i]

海(かい) • (kai)

1. sea; ocean

• “海”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[5] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015-2026

From Middle Chinese 海 (MC xojX).

Historical readings Dongguk Jeongun reading Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 ᄒᆡᆼ〯 (Yale: hǒy) Middle Korean Text Eumhun Gloss (hun) Reading Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[6] 바다〮 (Yale: pàtá) ᄒᆡ〯 (Yale: hǒy)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [hɛ(ː)] ~ [he̞(ː)]
• Phonetic hangul: [해(ː)/헤(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

海 (eumhun 바다 해 (bada hae))

1. hanja form? of 해 (“sea; ocean”) [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [7]

海: Hán Việt readings: hải (呼(hô)改(cải)切(thiết))[1][2][3][4][5] 海: Nôm readings: hẩy[1][2][3][6], hải[1][2][7][4], hái[1], hơi[1], hãi[2], hỏi[2]

1. chữ Hán form of hải (“sea; ocean”)
2. Nôm form of hẩy (“to toss; to throw”)

海

1. Sawndip form of hai