King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “avarice”

Romaji: yoku
greed; craving; desire; appetite

In Japanese, avarice is , read (yoku).

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, n-suf greed; craving; desire; appetite; hunger; avarice

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

longing, covetousness, greed
on: ヨク
kun: ほっ.する、ほ.しい
11 strokes · JLPT 2

Other Japanese words for “avarice”

WordReadingMeaning
よくばり yokubarigreed; avarice; covetousness
たいよく taiyokuavarice
りよく riyokugreed; avarice
どんらん donranavarice; greed
どうよく douyokuavarice; heartlessness; greed

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
ほしい hoshiiwanting (to have); desiring; wishing for
いよく iyokuwill; desire; eagerness
よっきゅう yokkyuudesire; want; will
よくぼう yokuboudesire; appetite; lust
しょくよく shokuyokuappetite (for food)
せいよく seiyokusexual desire; sex drive; lust

See also: Chinese symbol for “avarice”.

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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