Japanese symbol for “aeroplane”

飛行機

ひこうき

Romaji: hikouki

airplane; aeroplane; plane; aircraft

In Japanese, aeroplane is 飛行機, read ひこうき (hikouki).

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 airplane; aeroplane; plane; aircraft

Kanji and stroke order

飛

fly, skip (pages), scatter

on: ヒ
kun: と.ぶ、と.ばす、-と.ばす

9 strokes · JLPT 2

行

going, journey, carry out

on: コウ、ギョウ、アン
kun: い.く、ゆ.く、-ゆ.き、-ゆき

6 strokes · JLPT 4

機

loom, mechanism, machine

on: キ
kun: はた

16 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
飛行	ひこう hikou	flight; flying; aviation
飛ぶ	とぶ tobu	to fly; to soar
飛躍	ひやく hiyaku	leap; jump
飛ばし	とばし tobashi	selling or divesting in unwanted stocks; hiding bad loans
飛ばす	とばす tobasu	to let fly; to make fly; to send flying
行動	こうどう koudou	action; conduct; behaviour
行う	おこなう okonau	to perform; to do; to conduct oneself
銀行	ぎんこう ginkou	bank; banking institution
機能	きのう kinou	function; facility; faculty

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.