話
Meaning in Englishtalk, story, speech
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
What does 話 mean? 話 (hanashi) denotes a 'talk'—the content or act of speaking; it names something that is said, discussed, or told rather than a written text.
Main meanings
- A narrative or tale told to entertain or inform (a story).
- An exchange of words between people (a conversation or dialogue).
- The subject or matter under discussion (a topic or issue).
- A rumor, anecdote, or item of news passed along informally.
- The element of speech in compound words that indicates speaking, telling, or accounts.
How to use it
Used across everyday, literary, and formal registers to label spoken content, topics, or storytelling; appears as a standalone noun in speech (referring to a story or something to discuss), in compound words to mark acts of speaking, and in titles or headlines to signal a report or tale, with natural presence in casual chats, presentations, and media.
Variants and close terms
- 会話 (kaiwa) — conversation (synonym in the sense of dialogue).
- 物語 (monogatari) — narrative/tale (overlaps with 'story' sense).
- 語り (katari) — narration/telling (emphasizes the act of telling).
- 無言 (mugon) — silence (antonym in the sense of absence of speech).
Composition
The character combines the speech radical 言 (gon/iu) on the left and 舌 (shita, 'tongue') on the right, visually suggesting 'speech' produced by the 'tongue'—hence a meaning related to talking, telling, or words.
Word class
noun (名詞); kanji (漢字) used as a noun root and in compounds