Japanese symbol for “banal”
凡庸
ぼんよう
Romaji: bon'you
mediocre; ordinary; commonplace; banal
In Japanese, banal is 凡庸, read ぼんよう (bon'you).
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
- adj-na, adj-no, n mediocre; ordinary; commonplace; banal
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “banal”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 千編一律 | せんぺんいちりつ senpen'ichiritsu | monotonous; humdrum; stereotyped |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 平凡 | へいぼん heibon | ordinary; common; commonplace |
| 凡人 | ぼんじん bonjin | ordinary person; average person; mediocre person |
| 凡退 | ぼんたい bontai | out in 1-2-3 order |
| 非凡 | ひぼん hibon | extraordinary; uncommon; remarkable |
| 凡そ | およそ oyoso | about; roughly; approximately |
| 中庸 | ちゅうよう chuuyou | middle way; (golden) mean; moderation |
| 庸愚 | ようぐ yougu | mediocrity; imbecility |
| 庸人 | ようじん youjin | common man |
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.