音読み: ホク
訓読み: きた
画数: 5
部首: さじ（匕）
Meaning
North / Northern direction / Turn away
- 北海道 — Hokkaido
- 北風 — north wind
- 北国 — northern country
- 北上 — going north
- 敗北 — defeat
More examples - tap to expand
- 北方 — northern region
- 北緯 — north latitude
- 北端 — northern tip
北 is an ideogram showing two people sitting back-to-back, symbolizing turning away or opposing directions. Over time, it came to represent the direction "north," possibly because people would turn their backs to the north when facing the sun in the south.