also: はっき · しろはた
white flag; truce flag; surrender flag
A flag used to signal surrender or a desire for a truce. The word is straightforward and carries no special nuance beyond its literal meaning.
The enemy army raised a white flag.
彼らは白旗を振って降伏の意思を示した。
They waved a white flag to signal their intention to surrender.
Standard kanji spelling; the most common reading is しらはた.
Rare on'yomi reading; may appear in older or formal contexts.
Alternate kun'yomi reading; less common than しらはた.
Compound of 白 (しら, 'white') + 旗 (はた, 'flag'). The reading しらはた is the most common; しろはた and はっき are less frequent variants.