蛇口
Meaning in Englishfaucet, tap
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Related sentences
There are no published items in this section yet.
Word context
What it means
What does 蛇口 mean? It refers to a faucet or tap—a plumbing fixture that controls the flow of water from a pipe into a sink, and is used in everyday speech and in technical contexts to denote the water outlet.
Main meanings
- the device that controls water flow from a pipe into a basin, typically mounted on a sink.
- in diagrams or manuals, 蛇口 denotes the water outlet component of a plumbing system, distinct from hoses, valves, or drains.
How to use it
Used in everyday conversation to refer to a faucet on sinks; in formal or technical writing it may appear alongside 水栓 as a more formal term. In signage and manuals it designates the water outlet, and common verb collocations include 蛇口を開ける, 蛇口を閉める, and 蛇口をひねる.
Variants and close terms
- 水栓 (すいせん) — faitful synonym; suisen
- 吐水口 (とすいこう) — related term for the discharge outlet; tosuikou
Composition
- 蛇 — snake; 口 — mouth; together they evoke the mouth through which water emerges, linking the imagery to the fixture that releases water
Etymology
From 蛇 snake and 口 mouth, the term is read jaguchi in modern Japanese. Historical readings shifted in kanji compounds, with on'yomi for 蛇 and kun'yomi for 口 contributing to the established pronunciation.
Word class
Noun (名詞)