内ない海かい

also: うちうみ

な

い

か

い

Common wordFreq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

Refers to a body of water largely surrounded by land, such as the Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海). Can also be used for smaller inlets and bays.

瀬せ戸と内ない海かいは日本にほんで一いち番ばん大おおきな内ない海かいです。

The Seto Inland Sea is the largest inland sea in Japan.

この内ない海かいにはたくさんの小ちいさな島しまがある。

There are many small islands in this inland sea.

2

archaic

Only with reading うちうみ

Archaic meaning, now largely replaced by 湖 (みずうみ). Found in old texts or place names.

湾わんN3sense 1
湾 means a bay or gulf and often refers to a larger coastal indentation, while 内海 stresses that the water is largely enclosed by surrounding land.
湖みずうみN4sense 2
湖 is the modern standard word for a lake, having replaced the archaic 内海 (うちうみ) sense found in old texts.
入いり江え sense 1
入り江 is a smaller inlet or cove cut into a coastline, whereas 内海 denotes a whole sea-sized body of water enclosed by land.

外がい海かい sense 1
外海 refers to the open sea beyond coastal waters, the direct opposite of 内海's land-enclosed sea.
灘なだ
内海 is an enclosed sea surrounded by land, the opposite of 灘, which denotes a broad, exposed open sea.

箇か所しょN2
Used when counting locations or geographic places in a formal/general way.

内海Usage100%
- ないかい
  Standard kanji spelling for the common reading ないかい.
- うちうみ
  Archaic reading, restricted to the 'lake' sense.
うちうみ

Compound of 内 (inside, within) and 海 (sea). The archaic reading うちうみ uses the native Japanese reading of both characters.

Usage<1%