Japanese symbol for “adulthood”

丁年

ていねん

Romaji: teinen

adulthood (i.e. age 20 in Japan); one's majority

In Japanese, adulthood is 丁年, read ていねん (teinen).

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 adulthood (i.e. age 20 in Japan); one's majority

Kanji and stroke order

丁

street, ward, town

on: チョウ、テイ、チン、トウ
kun: ひのと

2 strokes · JLPT 1

年

year, counter for years

on: ネン
kun: とし

6 strokes · JLPT 4

Other Japanese words for “adulthood”

Word	Reading	Meaning
成人期	せいじんき seijinki	adult period; adulthood

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
丁寧	ていねい teinei	polite; courteous; civil
包丁	ほうちょう houchou	kitchen knife
丁重	ていちょう teichou	polite; courteous; hospitable
装丁	そうてい soutei	binding (of a book)
丁度	ちょうど choudo	exactly; precisely; just
横丁	よこちょう yokochou	bystreet; side street; back street
今年	ことし kotoshi	this year
年間	ねんかん nenkan	(period of) a year

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.