坂
Meaning in Englishslope, hill
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
坂 means an inclined surface rising from lower ground, such as a hill or street slope; in everyday Japanese it describes terrain features and appears in place names and road signs.
Main meanings
- Slope or hill as a natural terrain feature
- Man-made incline in streets, sidewalks, or pathways
- Indication of hilly areas in toponyms and directions
How to use it
Used as a noun in formal and everyday language to describe terrain or street features; common phrases include 坂を登る, 坂道, 急な坂, and 坂の多い町, reflecting both literal and descriptive uses.
Variants and close terms
- 坂 (saka) — slope/hill
- 斜面 (shamen) — incline
- 丘 (oka) — hill
Composition
- Radical 土 indicating earth/ground
- Remaining elements combine to express a raised ground feature, yielding the meaning slope or hill
Etymology
Kanji origin: 坂 is a single-character kanji formed from a ground-related semantic element with a phonetic/visual component, and its current reading in Japanese is saka.
Origin
Historic usage is attested in classical Japanese, with 坂 appearing in road descriptions and place names to denote elevated ground and slopes.
Word class
noun (名詞)