Japanese symbol for “activity”
活動
かつどう
Romaji: katsudou
activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action; operation
In Japanese, activity is 活動, read かつどう (katsudou).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Meanings
- n, vi, vs activity (of a person, organization, animal, volcano, etc.); action; operation
- n moving picture
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “activity”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 活躍 | かつやく katsuyaku | activity (esp. energetic or successful); great efforts; active participation |
| 事業 | じぎょう jigyou | business; enterprise; venture |
| 活性 | かっせい kassei | activity |
| 営み | いとなみ itonami | activity; action; performance |
| 能動 | のうどう noudou | activity |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 生活 | せいかつ seikatsu | life; living |
| 活躍 | かつやく katsuyaku | activity (esp. energetic or successful); great efforts; active participation |
| 復活 | ふっかつ fukkatsu | revival (of an old system, custom, fashion, etc.); restoration; return |
| 活用 | かつよう katsuyou | practical use; application; making good use of |
| 活発 | かっぱつ kappatsu | lively; active; vigorous |
| 行動 | こうどう koudou | action; conduct; behaviour |
| 運動 | うんどう undou | exercise; physical training; workout |
| 動物 | どうぶつ doubutsu | animal |
See also: Chinese symbol for “activity”.
Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.