What is the Kanji for "Town"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Town" is "町".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Machi".

Its onyomi reading is "Chou".

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 "田" means "Rice field" and can be read as "Den" and "Ta". And The kanji "丁" means "Street" and can be read as "Chou" and "Tei".

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

What does the kanji "町" mean in japanese?

"町" means "Town".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in First Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N4 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

町: "Town". The noun '町 (まち)' refers to a relatively small, densely populated urban area that is larger than a village but smaller than a city. It is commonly used to describe a local commercial and community center. '町' can be used on its own or as part of a compound word to indicate a specific type of town, such as '商店街 (しょうてんがい) - shopping district' or '下町 (しもだち) - downtown area'. For example: I live in a small town - (私は小さな町に住んでいます). The town has many shops and restaurants - (その町には多くの店や飲食店がある).

下町: "Downtown". The Japanese noun '下町 (したまち)' refers to a traditional, old-fashioned downtown or city center area, often characterized by narrow streets, mom-and-pop shops, and a distinct local culture. These areas are typically contrasted with the modern, high-rise districts of a city. For example: He lives in the downtown district - (彼は下町に住んでいる). The downtown area is full of quaint shops - (下町は小さな店がたくさんある).

町外れ: "Outskirts". The Japanese noun '町外れ (まちはずれ)' means 'outskirts'. It refers to the peripheral or outlying areas of a town or city, often characterized by less dense population and development compared to the central parts. Example sentences: They live in the outskirts of the city - (彼らは町外れに住んでいる). The apartment is located in the outskirts, away from the busy downtown area - (そのアパートは町外れにあり、賑やかな中心部から離れている).

町中: "Downtown". The noun '町中 (まちなか)' refers to the central part of a town or city, the downtown area. It is commonly used to describe the busy, crowded areas in the heart of a city, where there are many shops, restaurants, and other establishments. For example: Let's meet downtown - (町中で会いましょう). I love walking through the downtown area - (町中を歩くのが好きです).

町角: "Street corner". The Japanese noun '町角 (まちかど)' refers to a street corner, the place where two streets intersect. This word is commonly used to describe the physical location of a corner or intersection within a town or city. For example: They met at the street corner - (彼らは町角で待ち合わせた). The store is located on the street corner - (そのお店は町角にある).

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 "う" is read as "u". And The hiragana "ま" is read as "ma".

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.