藻 means “seaweed, algae, water plants”

そう · sou

Also: duckweed

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

も

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ソウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 19 strokes

The story

Grass (艹) over water (氵) and 喿, birds chattering (品) in a tree (木): picture weeds swaying in a noisy current. 海藻 is seaweed, a staple of Japanese meals, and sailors lost at sea are said to become 海の藻屑, scraps of seaweed.

Used in 海藻 (kaisou, seaweed), 藻類 (sourui, algae), and 藻屑 (mokuzu, bits of seaweed)

More from Ships & Shores

• 舷 ship's side
• 浜 beach
• 江 inlet
• 浦 inlet
• 津 harbor
• 瀬 rapids
• 潮 tide
• 艦 warship
• 艇 small boat
• 搭 embark
• 漂 drift
• 浪 waves

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

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