Meaning

Primary

White Flag

Word Type

noun

Explanation

A white flag is a white flag. It's one for surrender. I give up! Too many kanji!

Reading

しろはた
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

You'll have to be careful about this one, as it actually uses the kun'yomi readings for both kanji, making it しろはた.

しろはた is the reading we'll focus on, because it's the most common modern reading. But there are some other possible readings too: the more traditional-sounding しらはた sometimes gets used in names or historical contexts, and the on'yomi reading はっき occasionally pops up in technical contexts. You'll be good as long as you know the しろはた reading, but don't wave the 白旗 if the other variants show up too!

Context

Context Sentences

試験勉強が難しすぎて、白旗を上げそうだよ。

The test prep is so hard, I'm about to give up.

白旗をふったところで、アイツらは我々を皆殺しにするつもりですよ。

Even though we waved a white flag, they would probably just wipe all of us out anyways.

いくらダイエット中でも、あの美味しそうなケーキを見たら、心の中で白旗を上げちゃったよね。

Despite being on a diet, when I saw that delicious looking cake, it made me wave the white flag in my heart.

白旗を上げるということは、敵に降伏するということだ。

Raising a white flag means surrendering to the enemy.

Kanji Composition