江 means “inlet, cove, river”

え · e

Also: creek, bay

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

え

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

コウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 6 strokes

The story

Water (氵) beside 工, which gives the sound こう: in China a great river, so the Yangtze is 長江. In Japan 江 is an inlet: 入り江 is a cove, and 江戸, often explained as 'door of the bay', was Tokyo's name until 1868.

Used in 江戸 (edo, Edo), 入り江 (irie, inlet/cove), and 長江 (choukou, Yangtze River)

More from Ships & Shores

• 浦 inlet
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• 瀬 rapids
• 潮 tide
• 艦 warship
• 艇 small boat
• 搭 embark
• 漂 drift
• 浪 waves
• 涯 limit
• 舶 ship
• 沙 sand

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

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