What is the Kanji for "Sink"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Sink" is "沈".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Shizu".

Its onyomi reading is "Chin".

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 radical "氵" means "Water" . And The component "冘" .

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

What does the kanji "沈" mean in japanese?

"沈" means "Sink".

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

Here are some words that use this kanji:

沈める: "Sink". The verb '沈める (しずめる)' means 'to sink'. It is used to describe the action of causing something to go down and become submerged in water or another liquid. This verb can be used with both animate and inanimate objects. For example: The boat sank - (船が沈んだ). The heavy rain caused the river to sink - (豪雨により川が氾濫した).

沈黙: "Silence". The Japanese noun '沈黙 (ちんもく)' means 'silence'. This word describes a state of not speaking or making noise. It can refer to physical silence as well as a deliberate choice not to speak. '沈黙' is often used in situations where someone chooses not to respond or comment, either out of discretion, contemplation, or discomfort. For example: The audience remained in complete silence - (会場は完全な沈黙に包まれた). He answered with silence - (彼は沈黙して答えた).

沈む: "Sink". The Japanese verb '沈む (しずむ)' means 'to sink'. This verb is used to describe when an object goes down below the surface of a liquid, or when someone or something falls or descends downward. It can also be used metaphorically to describe the decline or deterioration of something. For example: The ship sank - (その船は沈んだ). The sun is sinking below the horizon - (太陽が地平線に沈んでいく).

沈没: "Sink". The verbal noun '沈没 (ちんぼつ)' means 'to sink'. It refers to the process of something sinking or submerging below the surface of water or another liquid. This word is often used to describe the sinking of ships, boats or other objects. For example: The ship sank to the bottom of the ocean - (その船は海底に沈没した). The plane crashed and sank into the lake - (飛行機が湖に墜落し、沈没した).

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 "ち" is read as "chi". The hiragana "ん" is read as "n". The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". And The hiragana "ず" is read as "zu".

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.