泉 - A White Water FOUNTAIN

Readings & Meanings:

いずみ

セン

spring, fountain

Common Usage:

温泉

泉

Examples:

温泉に入る。

あそこに泉が湧いている。

Translations:

I go into an onsen (hot-spring bath).

Over there, a fountain gushes forth.

Bonus:

I couldn't quite remember this kanji. Even though I lived in a section of town called 大泉. Even though it was in my ADDRESS. I could never quite remember it.

Then I had a student named 泉. Great student. But it just struck me one day: Oh my goodness, she has just one kanji for her name. I asked her what it meant, and finally the meaning stuck.

She said that it meant fountain, and she was named that way because her parents wanted her to spring forth with clean, fresh ideas and personality. I thought it was a nice name.

There's an easy way for you to latch on to this kanji. Fountains, depending on the minerals they pick up from their path through the earth, can be white. Hence, you have 白 on top of 水 in the kanji 泉.

Extra Bonus: Review:

What other words can you make with 温泉's 温?

湧 contains what very-recently learned kanji?

References:

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/kanji/kanji/i.htm