Skip to content
Kotomora

鴎

seagull

FrequencyTop 5,000Strokes15

Readings

On'yomi

  • オウ

Kun'yomi

  • かもめ

Meaning

鴎 centers on a specific seabird: the seagull. The meaning is narrow and concrete, referring to the bird itself.

Most common words using 鴎

  • 鴎かもめ

    common gull (Larus canus)

  • フルマ鴎フルマかもめ

    northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)

  • 大フルマ鴎おおフルマかもめ

    giant petrel (esp. the southern giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus)

  • 斑フルマ鴎まだらフルマかもめ

    Cape pigeon; Cape petrel; pintado petrel (Daption capense)

  • 水鴎流すいおうりゅう

    old sword fighting; sword drawing style or school from Shizuoka prefecture

  • 白腹盗賊鴎しろはらとうぞくかもめ

    long-tailed jaeger; long-tailed skua (Stercorarius longicaudus)

  • 白鴎しろかもめ

    glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus); burgomaster

  • 百合鴎ゆりかもめ

    black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus); hooded gull

  • 盗賊鴎とうぞくかもめ

    skua (any bird of family Stercorariidae, incl. the jaegers)

  • 笑い鴎わらいかもめ

    laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)

  • 背黒鴎せぐろかもめ

    herring gull (Larus argentatus)

  • 鴎髱かもめづと

    chignon resembling a seagull's spread tail feathers (Edo-period women's hairstyle)

  • 黄足背黒鴎きあしせぐろかもめ

    Caspian gull (Larus cachinnans)

  • 黒盗賊鴎くろとうぞくかもめ

    parasitic jaeger; Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus)

Explore all words using 鴎 →

Study

Etymology

鴎 is the modern simplified form of 鷗. It combines 区 (possibly phonetic) with 鳥 (bird) to denote a seagull. The older form used 區 instead of 区.

Meaning mnemonic

The left side 区 looks like a coastal area, and the right side 鳥 is a bird. Picture a seagull flying over a coastal district.

Reading mnemonic

For オウ, imagine a seagull letting out a loud 'Oh!' as it spots a fish: Oh -> オウ.