King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “artificial”

Romaji: jinkou
artificial; man-made; human work; human skill

In Japanese, artificial is , read (jinkou).

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. adj-no, n artificial; man-made; human work; human skill; artificiality

Kanji and stroke order

person
on: ジン、ニン
kun: ひと、-り、-と
2 strokes · JLPT 4
craft, construction, katakana e radical (no. 48)
on: コウ、ク、グ
3 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “artificial”

WordReadingMeaning
じんぞう jinzouartificial; man-made; imitation
ふしぜん fushizenunnatural; artificial; affected
じんこうてき jinkoutekiartificial; unnatural
じんいてき jin'itekiartificial; unnatural; human-caused (e.g. mistake, error, disaster)
さくいてき sakuitekiintentional; deliberate; contrived

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
にんげん ningenhuman being; human; person
こじん kojinindividual; private person; personal
にんき ninkipopularity; public favor
じんせい jinsei(one's) life
ひとびと hitobitopeople; men and women
おとな otonaadult; grown-up
こうじょう koujoufactory; plant; mill
こうじ koujiconstruction work

See also: Chinese symbol for “artificial”.

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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