What 岨 means
It names steep, rocky ground. In Japanese, 岨 can mean a cliff, sharp slope, or mountain path; the Chinese gloss describes a rocky mountain bearing earth.
The Han-dynasty Chinese dictionary Shuowen Jiezi (《說文解字》) explains 岨 as a stone mountain bearing earth and quotes a line from the Book of Songs, an old Chinese poetry collection: “陟彼岨矣.” A Japanese example from the 12th century uses the older spelling そは for a steep place.
Chinese texts also use 岨峿, a two-character term for uneven ground. The 砠 variant of 岨 is documented in classical sources as an alternate written form. If 岨 looks different across Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts, that reflects regional glyph styles; as of 2026, the font changes its appearance, not its character identity.
In Japanese, 岨 suits literary writing, historical references, or place names; everyday prose usually uses a more familiar word.
If someone sent 岨 alone, read it as a landform word or a name, not a clear reaction.
Who writes 岨
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Related characters
1
Questions people ask
1Why does 岨 show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
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How to type or find 岨
- Also called
- そば · そわ
- Search it as
- 岨 · soba · sowa · cliff · precipice · rocky mountain · steep slope
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
岨\5CA8Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.