Japanese symbol for “alone”
単身
たんしん
Romaji: tanshin
alone; by oneself; unaccompanied; unaided
In Japanese, alone is 単身, read たんしん (tanshin).
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
- adv, n alone; by oneself; unaccompanied; unaided; single-handed; without one's family
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “alone”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 丈 | だけ dake | only; just; merely |
| アローン | アローン aroon | alone; single |
| 一人で | ひとりで hitoride | alone; by oneself; on one's own |
| 一人 | ひとり hitori | by oneself; alone |
| 煢然 | けいぜん keizen | alone; helpless |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 簡単 | かんたん kantan | simple; easy; uncomplicated |
| 単位 | たんい tan'i | unit (e.g. meters, grams, etc.); denomination |
| 単純 | たんじゅん tanjun | simple; plain; uncomplicated |
| 単に | たんに tanni | simply; merely; only |
| 単なる | たんなる tannaru | mere; simple; sheer |
| 単語 | たんご tango | word; vocabulary |
| 自身 | じしん jishin | (one's) self; oneself; yourself |
| 出身 | しゅっしん shusshin | one's origin (e.g. city, country, parentage, school) |
See also: Chinese symbol for “alone”.
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.