Word
蛇口
Meaning in Englishfaucet, tap
Animated kanji stroke order
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)