Japanese symbol for “boyhood”

少年期

しょうねんき

Romaji: shounenki

adolescence; boyhood

In Japanese, boyhood is 少年期, read しょうねんき (shounenki).

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

n adolescence; boyhood

Kanji and stroke order

少

few, little

on: ショウ
kun: すく.ない、すこ.し

4 strokes · JLPT 4

年

year, counter for years

on: ネン
kun: とし

6 strokes · JLPT 4

期

period, time, date

on: キ、ゴ

12 strokes · JLPT 2

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

Word	Reading	Meaning
少し	すこし sukoshi	a little; a bit; a small amount
少年	しょうねん shounen	boy
少女	しょうじょ shoujo	girl (usu. between 7 and 17); young lady
少ない	すくない sukunai	few; little; small (amount)
減少	げんしょう genshou	decrease; reduction; decline
多少	たしょう tashou	a little; some; somewhat
今年	ことし kotoshi	this year
年間	ねんかん nenkan	(period of) a year
期間	きかん kikan	period; term; interval

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.