谷
Meaning in Englishvalley, ravine
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
谷 means a valley—a natural depression between hills where water often flows, forming a lowland landscape.
Main meanings
- Geography: a valley or gorge, the low-lying land between mountains that can host streams.
- Toponymy and naming: used in place names and geographic descriptors to denote valleys or valley-shaped features.
- Figurative or technical usage: in compounds or specialized terms, it can convey a sense of hollowness or a recessed space within a larger context.
How to use it
Used in geography, education, travel writing, and everyday speech; as a noun, it denotes the landform and appears in place names and geographic descriptions.
Variants and close terms
- 峡谷 kyōkoku — gorge; kyōkoku
- 谷間 tanima — hollow or gap between hills; tanima
Etymology
Phonetic evolution The character 谷 provides the native kun-reading tani in Japanese, with the on-reading used in Sino-Japanese compounds; its pronunciation reflects a standard logographic borrowing from Chinese while preserving the valley meaning.
Origin
Ancient usage in Japanese and Chinese texts; early attestations appear in classical writings and toponyms, reflecting long-standing recognition of valleys in the landscape.
Word class
noun (名詞)