What is the Kanji for "Sand"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Sand" is "砂".

This kanji has 3 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Suna".

Its onyomi readings are "Sa" and "Sha".

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 "石" means "Stone" and can be read as "Ishi", "Seki", and "Shaku". And The kanji "少" means "Few" and can be read as "Shou", "Suku", and "Suko".

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

What does the kanji "砂" mean in japanese?

"砂" means "Sand".

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

Here are some words that use this kanji:

砂糖: "Sugar". The noun '砂糖 (さとう)' refers to the sweet, crystalline substance that is extracted from sugarcane or sugar beets and used as a sweetener in food and drinks. It is a common and widely used ingredient in cooking and baking. For example: I put sugar in my coffee - (コーヒーに砂糖を入れました). She likes to put sugar on her cereal - (彼女はシリアルに砂糖をかけるのが好きです).

砂: "Sand". The Japanese noun '砂 (すな)' refers to the small, granular material found on beaches and in deserts. Sand is composed of tiny particles of rock, mineral, or organic material. It is used in construction, glass making, and many other applications. For example: This beach has soft, white sand - (このビーチは柔らかで白い砂がある). The desert was covered in sand - (砂漠は砂に覆われていた).

砂浜: "Beach". The Japanese noun '砂浜 (すなはま)' refers to a beach, specifically the sandy area along the shoreline of a body of water. It is commonly used to describe coastal areas with sandy surfaces rather than rocky or pebbly ones. For example: Let's walk along the beach - (砂浜を歩きましょう). The kids were playing on the beach - (子供たちは砂浜で遊んでいました).

砂漠: "Desert". The noun '砂漠 (さばく)' refers to a large, hot, dry area of land with little or no vegetation. Deserts are characterized by extreme heat, sparse rainfall, and expansive sandy or rocky landscapes. They are found in many parts of the world, such as the Sahara in Africa, the Arabian Desert in the Middle East, and the Mojave Desert in North America. For example: We visited the desert during our trip - (旅行中、砂漠を訪れました). The camel walked across the vast desert - (ラクダが広大な砂漠を横切って歩いた).

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 "さ" is read as "sa". The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "す" is read as "su". And The hiragana "な" is read as "na".

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.