King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “authoritative”

Romaji: genzen
grave; solemn; stern; authoritative

In Japanese, authoritative is , read (genzen).

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-t, adv-to grave; solemn; stern; authoritative; hard (e.g. fact)

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

stern, strictness, severity
on: ゲン、ゴン
kun: おごそ.か、きび.しい、いか.めしい、いつくし
17 strokes · JLPT 1
sort of thing, so, if so
on: ゼン、ネン
kun: しか、しか.り、しか.し、さ
12 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
きびしい kibishiisevere; strict; rigid
げんかく genkakustrict; severe; stern
げんじゅう genjuustrict; severe; stringent
そんげん songendignity; majesty; sanctity
げんきん genkinstrict prohibition; ban; interdiction
いげん igendignity; majesty; solemnity
しぜん shizennature
とうぜん touzennatural; right; proper

See also: Chinese symbol for “authoritative”.

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.