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Kotomora

溝

gutter, ditch, sewer, drain, 10**32

JLPTN1StatusJōyō · secondary schoolFrequencyTop 2,000Strokes13

Readings

On'yomi

  • コウ

Kun'yomi

  • みぞ

Nanori

  • どぶ

Meaning

溝 centers on a channel that carries water or waste: a gutter, ditch, sewer, or drain. The rare numeric sense 10**32 is a specialized application of the idea of a huge channel or groove.

Most common words using 溝

20 of 52
  • 溝みぞ
    N1

    ditch; drain; gutter; trench

  • 溝どぶ

    ditch; drain; gutter; trench

  • 海溝かいこう

    oceanic trench; deep-sea trench; deep

  • 側溝そっこう

    gutter; ditch

  • 溝鼠どぶねずみ

    brown rat (Rattus norvegicus); common rat; street rat; sewer rat; Norway rat

  • 盧溝橋ろこうきょう

    Marco Polo Bridge (China)

  • 地溝ちこう

    rift valley

  • 排水溝はいすいこう

    drainage; gutter; ditch

  • 溝こう
    N1

    10^32; hundred nonillion

  • L字溝エルじこう

    L-shaped gutter; L-shaped drain

  • U字溝ユーじこう

    U-shaped gutter

  • キー溝キーみぞ

    keyway

  • マリアナ海溝マリアナかいこう

    Mariana Trench (deepest part of the ocean, near the Mariana Islands)

  • レコードの溝レコードのみぞ

    record groove

  • 上溝桜うわみずざくら

    Japanese bird cherry (Prunus grayana); Gray's bird cherry; Gray's chokecherry

  • 下水溝げすいこう

    drainage ditch; canal

  • 乳溝にゅうこう

    mammary slit (in whales, dolphins and porpoises)

  • 共同溝きょうどうこう

    multipurpose underground utility conduit

  • 地溝油ちこうゆ

    gutter oil; recycled waste oil sold illicitly in China as a cheaper alternative to normal cooking oil

  • 外側溝がいそくこう

    lateral sulcus (brain structure); Sylvian fissure; lateral fissure

Explore all words using 溝 →

Study

Etymology

溝 combines 氵 (water) with 冓, which likely contributes the sound コウ and the idea of a constructed channel or framework. The character originally referred to man-made waterways.

Meaning mnemonic

Water 氵 flows through a structured framework 冓, like a gutter or ditch channeling rainwater away.

Reading mnemonic

For コウ, imagine a construction worker shouting 'Go!' as water rushes through a newly built gutter: Go -> コウ, and the water drains away.