山 Kanji: Meaning, Readings and Stroke Order

山: mountain; hill. JLPT N5; 3 strokes.

Readings

On readings

サン、セン

Kun readings

やま

Romaji

san, sen, yama

Study notes

山 means 'mountain'; it appears in mountain names and places and in many surnames.

On reading: サン in mountain names, as 富士山 (ふじさん, Mount Fuji), and in compounds such as 山脈 (さんみゃく, mountain range), 火山 (かざん, volcano), 登山 (とざん, mountaineering) and 下山 (げざん, descent from the mountain), where it becomes voiced in ざん. セン is rare and appears in some proper names, such as Mount 大山 (だいせん) in Tottori Prefecture.

Kun reading: やま, 'mountain': 山道 (やまみち, mountain path), 山登り (やまのぼり, mountain hike). In a figurative sense it also means a 'heap': 山積み (やまづみ, pile, heap).

Remember: 山 is a pictograph of three peaks. It appears in many surnames, such as 山田 (やまだ), 山本 (やまもと) and 山口 (やまぐち).

Example words

• 山登り (やまのぼり) — mountain climbing; hiking
• 富士山 (ふじさん) — Mount Fuji
• 山 (やま) — mountain

Example sentences

富士山は日本一高い山です。

Fujisan wa nihon-ichi takai yama desu.

Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan.

Stroke order

Follow the steps in order. Each new stroke is highlighted.

Stroke paths: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sequential diagrams derived from the original paths.