沖 means “open sea, offshore”

おき · oki

Also: offing, rise high into sky

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おき, おきつ, ちゅうする, わく

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

チュウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in grade 4 · 7 strokes

The story

Water (氵) and the middle (中): out in the middle of the sea, far from shore. 沖 is the offing, 沖合 the waters offshore, and 沖縄, Okinawa, reads as "a rope (縄) out at sea", its islands strung far to the southwest.

Used in 沖 (oki, open sea/offshore), 沖縄 (okinawa, Okinawa), and 沖合 (okiai, offshore waters)

More from Across Japan

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• 岐 branch off
• 阜 hill
• 畿 capital region
• 媛 princess
• 岡 hill
• 阪 slope
• 崎 cape

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

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