King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “allegory”

Romaji: hiyu
simile; metaphor; allegory; parable

In Japanese, allegory is , read (hiyu).

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

  1. n simile; metaphor; allegory; parable

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

compare, race, ratio
on: ヒ
kun: くら.べる
4 strokes · JLPT 2
metaphor, compare
on: ユ
kun: たと.える、さと.す
12 strokes

Other Japanese words for “allegory”

WordReadingMeaning
ぐうわ guuwafable; allegory
たとえ tatoesimile; metaphor; allegory
アレゴリー aregoriiallegory
ぐうげん guugenallegory; fable
ぐういしょうせつ guuishousetsuallegory; allegorical tale

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ひかく hikakucomparison
くらべる kuraberuto compare; to make a comparison (between)
ひりつ hiritsuratio; proportion; percentage
ひれい hireiproportion
くらべ kurabecontest; comparison; competition
ひかくてき hikakutekicomparatively; relatively
あんゆ an'yumetaphor
いんゆ in'yumetaphor

See also: Chinese symbol for “allegory”.

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.

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