湾 means “bay, gulf”

わん · wan

Also: inlet

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

いりえ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ワン

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Water (氵) bent like a drawn bow (弓): a bay curving into the land. 台湾 is Taiwan, 湾岸 is the bayshore, and 東京湾 is Tokyo Bay, where Perry's black ships anchored off Uraga, at the bay's mouth, in 1853.

Used in 東京湾 (toukyouwan, Tokyo Bay), 台湾 (taiwan, Taiwan), and 湾岸 (wangan, bayshore)

More from Maps & Borders

• 周 around
• 央 center
• 河 river
• 坂 slope
• 郊 suburbs
• 湖 lake
• 島 island
• 境 border
• 州 state
• 域 region
• 欧 Europe
• 辺 vicinity

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

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