央 means “center, middle”

おう · ou

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

オウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 3 · 5 strokes

The story

A person (大) standing squarely inside a frame (冂): right in the middle. 央 nearly always comes as 中央, the center, as in Tokyo's orange 中央線, the Chuo Line across the middle of the city, and 震央, an earthquake's epicenter.

Used in 中央 (chuuou, center), 中央線 (chuuousen, Chuo Line), and 震央 (shin'ou, epicenter)

More from Maps & Borders

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

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

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