Why is "mother" (母) inside the Japanese kanji for "sea" (海)? 🌊🤱🇯🇵 I was curious about this too, so I looked it up! 海 is made of 氵 (water radical) and 毎 (every). If you look closely, 毎 contains the character for mother (母)! 🔎 Here’s the origin: In ancient times, 毎 depicted a mother wearing many hair ornaments. Because these ornaments were layered together, the character came to mean "dense," "vast," or "so deep that it looks dark." So, 海 represents water (氵) that is so deep and vast (毎) that you cannot see the bottom! 💡 Fun fact: While many believe it’s because "the sea is the mother of life," the original etymological reason is to describe the sea's incredible depth and darkness. 🌸✨