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Kotomora

桜

cherry

JLPTN1StatusJōyō · grade 5FrequencyTop 2,000Strokes10

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

Explore all words using 桜 →

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.