Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.

Words Kanji Guides About

湖みずうみ

み

ず

う

み

Common wordJLPTN4Freq.FrequencyTop 5,000

Meanings

1

noun

A large body of water surrounded by land.

この湖みずうみはとても深ふかい。
This lake is very deep.
夏なつになると湖みずうみで泳およぐ人ひとが多おおい。
In summer, many people swim in the lake.

Written forms

湖みずうみUsage98%
Standard kanji spelling for 'lake'.
みずうみUsage2%

Kanji

湖lake

Similar words

池いけ
池 is a pond, typically smaller and often man-made, while 湖 is a larger natural lake.
沼ぬま
沼 is a swamp or marsh, usually shallower and with more vegetation than a lake.

Etymology

The reading みずうみ is a compound of 水 (みず, 'water') and 海 (うみ, 'sea'), literally 'water sea'. The kanji 湖 is a phono-semantic compound with 氵 (water) and 胡 (phonetic, also suggesting 'vast').