# 湾 — bay; gulf

湾 means “bay; gulf”. It is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 12 strokes. On'yomi: ワン (wan). It has no common kun'yomi. You'll see it in words such as 湾 (wan, “bay; gulf”).

- Meaning: bay; gulf
- On'yomi: ワン (wan)
- Kun'yomi: —
- Strokes: 12
- Level: JLPT N3 · set Water & the sea

## How to remember 湾

Water (氵) drawn like a bow (弓): a bay.

Parts: 氵 water · 亦 also · 弓 bow

## Words with 湾

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 湾 | わん (wan) | bay; gulf |
| メキシコ湾 | メキシコわん (mekishikowan) | Gulf of Mexico |

## Don't confuse it with

[溺](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/drown/)

## More in the “Water & the sea” set

[流](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/flow/) · [湾](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/bay/) · [岸](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/shore/) · [波](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/wave/) · [沖](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/open-sea/) · [湖](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/lake/) · [湯](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/hot-water/)

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/bay/. Last updated 2026-11-01.