泡 means “bubble, foam”
あわ · awa
Also: bubbles, suds, froth
- Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
- あわ
- On'yomi (Chinese reading)
- ホウ
JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 8 strokes
The story
Water (氵) wrapped (包) around a pocket of air: a bubble. 泡 is foam or bubbles, the head on a beer or the suds in a sink, and 水の泡 is hard work gone to nothing, like a bubble bursting.
Used in 泡 (awa, bubbles/foam), 水の泡 (mizu no awa, wasted effort), and 発泡酒 (happoushu, low-malt beer)
More from Streams & Springs
- 濁 muddy
- 渇 thirst
- 畔 shore
- 渓 mountain stream
- 湧 gush
- 溺 drown
- 沢 mountain stream
- 井 well
- 漏 leak
- 没 sink
- 浸 soak
- 滝 waterfall
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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.