唄 means “song, ballad”

うた · uta

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

うた, うたう

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

バイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

A mouth (口) and a shell (貝): picture a song sung into a seashell. 唄 is song in the traditional vein: a 子守唄 is a lullaby, 長唄 is sung to the shamisen in kabuki, and 島唄 are the island songs of Okinawa and Amami.

Used in 子守唄 (komoriuta, lullaby), 長唄 (nagauta, kabuki shamisen song), and 島唄 (shimauta, island song)

More from Poems & Songs

• 韻 rhyme
• 喩 metaphor
• 彙 collection
• 楷 standard script
• 諧 harmony
• 響 echo
• 鈴 bell
• 俳 haiku
• 句 phrase
• 朗 clear
• 謡 song
• 琴 koto

Learn 唄 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.