桜
cherry
Readings
On'yomi
- オウ
- ヨウ
Kun'yomi
- さくら
Nanori
- さ
- ろう
Meaning
桜 centers on the cherry tree and its blossoms, a culturally significant symbol in Japan.
Most common words using 桜
20 of 103- 桜さくらN4
cherry tree; cherry blossom; sakura
- 桜木さくらぎ
cherry tree
- 桜花おうか
cherry blossom
- 桜ん坊さくらんぼ
cherry (fruit; esp. of the sweet cherry, Prunus avium)
- 夜桜よざくら
cherry blossoms at night
- 秋桜あきざくら
garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus); Mexican aster
- 桜餅さくらもち
rice cake with bean paste wrapped in a pickled cherry leaf
- 桜田門さくらだもん
Sakurada Gate; Sakuradamon; southern gate of the Tokyo Imperial Palace
- 八重桜やえざくら
double-flowered cherry tree; double cherry blossoms
- 山桜やまざくら
mountain cherry (Cerasus jamasakura)
- 葉桜はざくら
cherry tree in leaf; cherry tree whose blossoms have fallen, revealing the young leaves
- 桜美林大学おうびりんだいがく
J. F. Oberlin University
- しだれ桜しだれざくら
weeping cherry (Prunus spachiana); shidare cherry
- 桜桃おうとう
cherry (tree; esp. sweet cherry or Nanking cherry)
- 桜通線さくらどおりせん
Sakura-dōri Line
- 桜海老さくらえび
sakura shrimp (Lucensosergia lucens)
- 桜草さくらそう
primrose
- 一重桜ひとえざくら
cherry tree bearing single blossoms; single cherry blossoms
- 丁字桜ちょうじざくら
clove cherry (Prunus apetala)
- 上溝桜うわみずざくら
Japanese bird cherry (Prunus grayana); Gray's bird cherry; Gray's chokecherry
Study
Etymology
桜 is the modern simplified form of 櫻. The older form combines 木 (tree) with 嬰, which likely contributed the sound and the idea of something encircling or adorning, referring to the cherry tree's blossoms.
Meaning mnemonic
The left side 木 is a tree, and the right side looks like a woman 女 wearing a small crown ⺌ of blossoms. Picture a cherry tree in full bloom, its branches adorned like a crowned woman.
Reading mnemonic
For オウ, imagine an old cherry tree with a large, round crown: the shape of the crown cues the sound 'O' as in 'oval', and the tree is so grand you say 'Oh!' — together 'O-oh' -> オウ.