What is the Kanji for "Circumference"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Circumference", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Circumference" is "周".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Mawa".

Its onyomi reading is "Shuu".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The kanji "口" means "Mouth" and can be read as "Ku", "Kuchi", and "Kou". And The radical "冂" means "Enclosure" .

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "周" mean in japanese?

"周" means "Circumference".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Fourth Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N2 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

周り: "Surroundings" or "Vicinity". The noun '周り (まわり)' refers to the surroundings or the area/vicinity around something. It can be used to describe the environment, context or location that something is situated within. For example: The surroundings are beautiful - (周りの景色は美しい). She looked around the vicinity - (彼女は周りを見渡した).

周囲: "Surroundings". The Japanese noun '周囲 (しゅうい)' means 'surroundings'. It refers to the area or environment that encompasses or encloses something. This word can be used to describe the physical space or location around an object, person, or event. For example: The surroundings were peaceful and quiet - (周囲は静かで平和だった). The room's surroundings were beautifully decorated - (その部屋の周囲は美しく飾られていた).

周辺: "Surroundings" or "Vicinity". The Japanese noun '周辺 (しゅうへん)' refers to the area or space that immediately surrounds something. It can be used to describe the environment or context around a specific location, object, or event. For example: The surroundings of the temple are very peaceful - (寺の周辺はとてもおだやかです). The vicinity of the park is quite busy on weekends - (公園の周辺は週末になると混雑しています).

一周: "One rotation" or "Circumference". The verbal noun '一周 (いっしゅう)' can mean 'one rotation' or 'circumference'. It is used to describe the act of revolving around or encircling something, often in a single, complete movement. For example: I ran around the park one time - (私は公園を一周した). The circumference of the Earth is approximately 40,075 km - (地球の一周の長さは約40,075kmです).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "う" is read as "u". The hiragana "ま" is read as "ma". And The hiragana "わ" is read as "wa".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.