岡 meaning and stroke order
Ridge or crest of hill
How to write 岡, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 岡
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- ridge
- mound
How 岡 is built
Pictographic character. Clouds 网 forming over a mountain 山.
Radical: 山 (mountain), shared by 111 characters on this site.
How to remember 岡
Picture clouds, shown by the net-like 网 shape on top, settling over a mountain 山 underneath. Where clouds rest on a mountain is its high ridge, 岡 (gāng).
岡 means a ridge or low hill. In mainland China it is now written in the simplified form 冈, but 岡 still appears in traditional texts and in Japanese place names and surnames. Example: 他们爬上了山岡。(Tāmen pá shàng le shāngāng.) They climbed up onto the hill ridge.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 岡 with 罔 (wǎng), which has a similar frame but lacks 山 inside, or with 剛 (gāng, firm), which adds the knife radical 刂 on the right. Remember that only 岡 has the mountain 山 at the bottom inside the frame.
Common words with 岡
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 山岡 | shāngāng | mound; small hill | HSK 7-9 |
Characters that contain 岡
Learning 岡 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 岡
How many strokes are in 岡?
岡 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 岡 mean?
岡 (gāng) means ridge or crest of hill. A common word with it is 山冈 (shāngāng), meaning "mound; small hill".
How do you pronounce 岡?
岡 is pronounced gāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 岡?
The radical of 岡 is 山, which carries the idea of "mountain". Dictionaries list 岡 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 岡?
岡 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 冈, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 岡 the same character as 冈?
Yes. 冈 is the simplified form used in mainland China, and 岡 is the traditional form. Both are read gāng and mean ridge or mound.
Why do I see 岡 in Japanese names?
Japanese kept this form of the character, so it appears in names like 岡山 (Okayama) and the surname 岡田 (Okada). In Chinese, those names are read with Chinese pronunciation, for example 岡山 as Gāngshān.